The truck could also be carrying any commodity including dangerous goods, stock, bulk or general freight etc.

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1 WAGGA TRUCK TOWING PTY LTD OPERATORS LIC HARTOG PLACE, WAGGA WAGGA, NSW, 2650 I have 50 years of experience in both the light and heavy vehicle towing industry. In this time I have been on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week with no reasonable breaks. I believe that I personally would have attended more accidents than any other tow operator in Australia. With this experience under my belt I have seen a lot of unnecessary changes but also a lot of necessary changes. I believe in regulation of the industry in a controlled and rationally thought out manner, not as an overreaction to an unrelated incident. Regulation weeds out the rogue and unprofessional operators but in saying this there is a point where over regulation has become a burden. The business people that we deal with during the course of our Heavy Towing are mainly professional transport business operators, owner drivers & insurance companies not individuals that make rash uneducated decisions in a stressful situation. We do not have a typical accident scenario as it could happen at any hour of the day or night or any day of the week in any weather conditions. It could be within a three hundred kilometre radius of Wagga or further afield, and the owner could be from anywhere in Australia. The truck could also be carrying any commodity including dangerous goods, stock, bulk or general freight etc. The owner then makes a call to his pre arranged accident assist personnel who then puts the wheels in motion for recovery by contacting the nearest tow company that has the equipment and the professional ability to deal with the situation in the most efficient and cost effective manner. The tow operator must have the ability to salvage both truck and trailers and load from any situation. This could entail the vehicle and load being over a cliff or just the need for towing and restacking onto another transport.

2 The thing that is not mentioned anywhere in the act or regulations is the responsibility for the removal and transport of the freight involved except for the below. TOW TRUCK INDUSTRY ACT SECT 65 Cleaning up at scene of accident 65 Cleaning up at scene of accident The driver of a tow truck that tows a motor vehicle from the scene of an accident must, before leaving the scene, remove any debris caused by, or relating to, the motor vehicle unless otherwise directed by a police officer. Maximum penalty: 10 penalty units. This does not describe adequately whether it relates to the truck debris e.g. Windscreen glass, headlights, mirrors etc. which we are required by law to carry a broom, shovel & a 4 gallon bucket with lid to satisfy the above. We would have a lot of difficulty putting a 40 tonne load of potatoes in the regulation 4 gallon bucket. The below regulation is ridiculous. This suggests that we can have a million dollars worth of equipment at an accident and be forced to clear the road without any way of claiming any reimbursement for our costs incurred. Tow Truck Industry Regulation 2008 Current version for 1 July 2013 to date (accessed 4 June 2014 at 14:40) Part 4A Division 3 Clause 40L << page >> 40L Fee cannot be charged for complying with police directions A fee cannot be charged for towing work that is undertaken in accordance with any direction of a police officer or an authorised officer to move a heavy motor vehicle that is causing an unreasonable obstruction to the nearest place where it no longer causes an obstruction to traffic. Tow truck drivers must have a full license before they are able to obtain a Tow Truck Drivers Certificate and no person without a Tow Truck driver s certificate is able to be a passenger or work at an accident scene. This piece of legislation makes it impossible to train staff under 21 to operate and drive heavy tow trucks. The industry needs to be able to train and encourage staff at an earlier age The number one complaint with the current regulatory body being the RMS Towing.. Is the inefficiencies within the body itself. They are only there to enforce their regulatory purpose.

3 There is absolutely no help, advice or discussion in the event that we contact them in regard to any issues we encounter in the course of our business. The attitude of RMS is not to help in any way but to enforce regulations without any consultation that may help to change regulation for the betterment of the industry in the future. According to RMS Statistics there was motor vehicle accidents in NSW in 2012 of which 6% involved heavy vehicles which equates to approximately Of this 6 % our company attended and towed 204 heavy vehicles including trailers which are approximately 5% of the total truck accidents in NSW. We also attended 586 Breakdown & trade tows in the 2012 year. We envisage that we tow around 90% of all Heavy vehicle accidents & breakdowns in the Riverina region. We are dealing with business people in the transport industry both, companies and owner drivers, insurance companies, the mechanical repair industry, police and Roads and Maritime Services on a regular basis. All these people have towing policies and procedures in place in the event of an accident or breakdown and as such there is no need for any/or further regulations and red tape to have to complicate an already over overregulated industry which will just cause the headache to turn into a migraine. 1 Light vehicle and Heavy Vehicle towing should be viewed as a separate industry as there is absolutely no comparison between the two. 2 We are not dealing with stressed individuals; we are dealing with companies that already have procedures in place for the recovery of vehicles and loads in the event of any mishaps. 3 Regional and Metropolitan towing should also be viewed separately because of the competition differences and the environment and distances travelled. 4 In regional areas, heavy tow trucks do not race to accidents to acquire the tow as the equipment required for the tow is so variable and distances play a major factor. 5 In Regional areas the Heavy Tow companies work within themselves referring to the closest reputable tow company to efficiently deal with the recovery. 6 Most owners from around Australia have given several different entities permission to give authority for heavy towing. E.g. Insurance companies, Specialist logistics companies, ISS (First Response) Other Tow operators and truck repair companies. This makes it extremely difficult to obtain a signed towing authority, not being the actual owner, although we are fully aware that this is the requirement of the owner.

4 We do not agree with the proposed approach. There has never been and should not be any need for Government intervention in regional heavy towing. The problems of the past have been introduced through the actions of a metropolitan minority and are in no way connected to regional towing. The Objective of Government action. Government action was never clear in regional areas as it was a knee jerk reaction to a problem that existed in one small area of metropolitan Sydney and as a result has impacted in adversely in areas which had no prior issues with regulation and pricing. Government impact Costs & benefits. The savings to both the heavy Towing and Transport industries in deregulation would Be immense. The costs savings as well as time and the stresses of complying with red tape would enable companies to focus on the primary goal of being efficient, safe and cost effective Government action should be effective and proportional. In the past, Government action has not been effective and definitely not proportional and more focus needs to be applied to the varying needs of the industry. Consultation. Consultation is needed on a regional basis and at a grass roots level. There has been no consultation with regional Towing companies in the past and as such has resulted in regulations designed for Metropolitan areas which has crippled the country areas. This needs to be addressed as a matter of course in any regulation. Simplification, repeal, reform or consolidation of existing regulation. We agree that simplication or removal of existing regulation should be implemented. Regulation should be periodically reviewed and if necessary, reformed to ensure its continued efficiency and effectiveness. To our knowledge there have never been any problems in the Heavy Towing industry metropolitan and in particular regional areas. If there were significant problems enough to introduce the current laws, we would like to know what the problem was. There is not and never has been any need for the government to intervene in the Regional Heavy Towing industry. We are unaware of any significant complaint prior or since the introduction of regulation regarding heavy regional towing.

5 This is just another cost that the industry has to compensate for. Need for Regulation in some markets. We can t comment on price regulation in Metropolitan Light or heavy towing as we are regional based and there is no comparison between the two. If pricing is regulated there should be an initial set fee for a tow truck e.g. $ per hour and then an additional fee structure as per follows. Per tonne/per dollar/per hour basis. E.g. $10 per tonne per hour to fall in line with the general transport industry. As an example for a 2 hour tow job. Tow fee $ for tow truck per hour for 2 hours = $ Prime mover 10 tonne $ including the initial tow fee Prime mover & trailer 20 tonne $ including the initial tow fee $ per hour for 2 hours = $ this tow would be $ per hour for 2 hours = $ this tow would be Prime mover & loaded trailer 40 tonne $ per hour for 2 hours = $ this tow would equal $ included the initial tow fee. With the current fee structure, if we tow 10 tonne we can only charge the same rate as if we tow 60 tonne. And the current rate is nowhere near enough for a 60 tonne tow with all the extra wear and tear & fuel used. Any transport company in Australia charges on a cubic metre or tonne rate. Relevant factors are many and varied between Metro/Regional Heavy & Light towing and as such needs separation between the different entities. Towing a heavy truck through a city with constant stopping and starting is using far less fuel per hour than a regional tow truck on constant full acceleration for the same period of time. There is a major cost difference in the two types of tows used here as fuel is a major cost of the service. The other factor is that while a heavy tow truck is traveling through a city stopping and starting and traveling slowly, e.g. 15 kms in one hour, regional tow trucks would have travelled 80 kilometres in the same time. The city truck is getting the same money for 15kms that the regional truck is getting for travelling 80 kms. Trade towing adds a different dimension again. To buy a heavy tow truck for break down towing only would be a third of the price of a tow truck equipped for accident salvage and recovery equipment, jibs, winches, block pulleys, cables & stabilising legs etc.

6 You can pick and choose hours when you do trade towing to fall within business hours so as not to have overtime and other associated out of hour s costs. As breakdown/trade towing is more consistent you can predict the budget in a far more precise manner compared to accident recovery tow truck waiting idle for sometimes days, weeks or months still using registration, insurance and truck payments etc. With breakdown towing, because it s more consistent there is a benefit for having a driver being paid for standby whereas for accident recovery there is no consistency and therefore no benefit to paying a driver for standby although we still have to provide the service. If you require further clarification on any of our points in this submission, please do not hesitate to call me on I would like to participate in the Workshop in October, if indeed it will be open to Operators. Regards Bert Cool Towing Manager Wagga Truck Towing