Truck drivers say chain of responsibility legislation is failing them, and leaving drivers stuck with offences and penalties for breaches that they are not responsible for.
Transporting New Zealand recently wrote to Horizons Regional Council after a driver was fined for animal effluent spilling from the livestock truck they were driving.
The letter explained a number of factors - not in control of by the driver - that could have contributed to the spill, including farmers not standing stock for long enough before being loaded and a shortage of effluent disposal sites along the roading network.
Chain of responsibility laws - which sit within the Land Transport Act are supposed to capture all parties who contribute to a vehicle getting on the road, and seek to hold accountable those along each step of the supply chain.
But the legislation is rarely used - only twice in almost 20 years - and another prosecution by the Transport Agency is currently underway.
Dom Kalasih is Transporting NZ chief executive and Edward Cox, is Gibson Sheat partner specialising in the heavy road transport industry.
Dom Kalasih is Transporting NZ chief executive and Edward Cox, is Gibson Sheat partner specialising in the heavy road transport industry. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
