A 22-year-old truck driver has been hit with over $2000 worth of fines for logbook charges, after police found 13 offences in his National Work Diary.
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Police officers pulled over Evan Phillip Jackson driving a road train on Burley Griffith Way in Barellan after clocking him driving almost 10 km/h over the speed limit.
Jackson produced his driver's licence and National Work Diary upon request, when officers noticed a large number of offences in its pages across three months.
He was given a tick on the spot for speeding and was issued a court attendance notice for Griffith Local Court.
Appearing on Wednesday April 17, the magistrate heard submissions explaining the 13 offences.
Jackson's legal representative Mr Clifford explained how his client was unable to understand the "complicated" logging process, however was endeavoring to learn how.
He asserted that his client was uneducated and therefore struggled to comprehend the process.
Magistrate Joy Boulos was not convinced, however.
"He has completed year 11 - that is not uneducated Mr Clifford," she said.
Mr Clifford then detailed that Jackson suffered from a great deal of frustration at "being in a position unable to fill it out."
"My client said he was lucky to have been caught before fatigue set in and caused an accident," he said.
"He is being honest about it and not fudging... he won't push the limit now and will get assistance from other truck drivers on the road or his employer."
Magistrate Boulos said she had listened to the subjective material, however noted there were "13 offences before me."
"It is important to record details... fatigue kills," she said.
She outlined the maximum penalty for not recording information as per national regulations is a fine of $1500.
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The maximum penalty given for no resting for the required minimum time is $6000.
For two counts of not recording information as prescribed by national regulations, Jackson was found guilty but without conviction, and given a conditional release order for 12 months.
For 10 offences including working more than the standard time and not recording prescribed information into written work diary, he was given a $200 fine for each.
A larger $400 fine was handed out for not resting for the minimum required time.
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