CT abnormal truckers prepare for legal battle

Court action is on the cards as the abnormal load trucking industry fights what it calls “an impossible” 12-tonnes axle limit in the Western Cape. According to them, this was an arbitrary decision by a member of the province’s transport department to lay down a completely impractical ruling. The hauliers are now totally dependent on the efforts of the Road Freight Association (RFA) to overcome a ruling that is putting most of the trailers and trucks in the abnormal loads industry off the roads in the Cape, according to Carl Webb, MD of abnormal load specialists, Project Logistics Management – who pointed out that the bulk of the heavyweight vehicles were built to carry anything from 20 to 32 tonnes per axle. At the last meeting of the RFA abnormal loads committee, this was the main issue on the agenda, committee member Webb added. He reported to FTW that the latest attempt to solve the issue had been an RFA meeting with Robin Carlisle, MEC for transport and public works in the Cape. “The negative response that the RFA got,” he told FTW, “has led to us setting up for a legal battle.” This was confirmed by Gavin Kelly, technical and operations manager of the RFA. “We gave them (the provincial government of the Cape) 14 days to submit the scientific results that led to the limit,” he told FTW. “If that doesn’t transpire, then we’ll take legal action.”