LETTER TO THE EDITOR: A trivial error, but "here is a $354 fine to help you remember."
How do we keep our young men in the industry? We have a young man we employed just over 12 months ago. He has been diligent, on time, reliable, respectful, eager to learn, safe, great with staff and customers alike. He is the type of employee that gives businesses the confidence to grow and look after their staff.
We have trained him up to do float work and over dimensional transport. Most of the time he is home each night and every month or so goes for a two or three night away trip.
Last fortnight he went from southeast Queensland to Perth and back. On the way home, in Victoria, a Victorian Police officer pulled him over. Truck’s fine, load restraint’s fine, licence is clean, logbook is correct, no prior issues, clean sheet really. Oh, hang on, these yellow copies in your logbook, they have to be given to your employer. Regularly!
Well, everything else is in order, but these yellow copies, don’t forget to get them to your employer regularly and here is a $354 fine to help you remember. That’s $566.40 before tax.
If every bureaucrat that made a clerical or paperwork error was fined $354 (after tax money), the public service would not have a single employee in a week.
So, when the time (fine) doesn’t fit the crime, and is not the same law for all, the question remains, how do we keep our young men in the industry?
Bernard Murphy
Yatala, Qld