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.”