Owner//Driver heard back from truck stop campaigner Leigh Campbell, after running a story in the March edition. Here is Leigh's response to our readers.
Thank you Owner//Driver for presenting the article about my efforts to get a proper truck stop in Wagga Wagga (page 28, March 2018 edition).
The response from it and another article I placed in a local paper has been amazing and thank you to those who responded.
Some have even asked if I could help them get a truck stop in their town.
I was pleased to get a call from Rod Hannifey whom I have admired for years for his untiring efforts on behalf of drivers.
We had a good yarn for a while about the difficulties of getting anything done. Rod reckons the fuel companies are happy to do the service station part but baulk at the cost of providing extended parking areas and all the other costs such as off-road access and probably the cost of the land.
Clearly government money is needed to have any success. I believe it should be possible to get it if we approach them with a very clear agenda.
For example, if we prove to them we need say 20 full blown truck service centres and 200 roadside parking areas giving the size of the area needed including the location of where we need them (anywhere in Australia) with sound documentation as to why, we will have a good chance of success.
If between them the Federal, State and Local government put up say $1 million for each parking bay and perhaps $5million towards the cost of each service centre that totals $300 million, not much divided between them over the three or four years it would take to plan then build them.
Remember chain of responsibility? Providing us with a safe working environment is their responsibility, not some fuel company.
A good truck service centre should have a weighbridge. Rod likes what VicRoads is doing at Broadford where you can weigh yourself.
It would be counterproductive not to include car and caravan needs when assessing the area needed for parking. They are a reality – get used to it, plan for it.
How do we work out what we want and where? I don’t really know but in the meantime I would appreciate if you know of somewhere that badly needs these facilities. You could write to me explaining what you believe is needed, where and why.
Include your phone number and address and I will call you back or write to you when I can. As the new deputy Prime Minister is now my local member of Parliament and Transport Minister, I will suss him out about all this.
I will also ask our local state member about State Government assistance for these projects as well.
Leigh Campbell,
Oura, NSW
Any letters or email will be forwarded to Leigh Campbell. – Ed.