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‘Common sense has prevailed’: Ben Fordham delivers a win for truckies in the bush

Article image for ‘Common sense has prevailed’: Ben Fordham delivers a win for truckies in the bush

Truckies in the bush are celebrating a rare win against a local council.

Earlier in the week, Ben Fordham started a campaign to help local south coast truck drivers who had been forced to add up to 100km to their journey because of a poorly-thought-out truck ban.

In an attempt to force interstate traffic off local roads, the Bega Valley Shire Council had banned trucks bigger than 15 tonnes from driving the 40km from Bemboka to Wolumla.

The ban ended up overwhelming local truckies just trying to get to farmers, already struggling with the impact of the drought.

A local truckie impacted by the ban, Patrick Heffernan, tells Ben Fordham “we were put in an unworkable situation”.

Following the story breaking earlier this week we’ve since seen the council backflip on the decision and revise their local truck ban.

Mayor of Bega Valley Shire Council, Kristy McBain, tells Ben “it was obviously an unintended consequence because we were aware that we did have some farmers and some other depots along some of the roads in question”.

“We believed that it wouldn’t affect them… however, what’s happened is that there are no exception clauses in the road rules.

“So we’ve taken down those signs… so that we can try to get some exceptions for those locals doing business in our area,” Ms McBain tells Ben.

“I think that’s fantastic, that common sense has prevailed and we can get on with our day to day operations without living in fear,” relieved truckie Patrick tells Ben.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

Ben Fordham
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