Truck Drivers Demand Better Facilities in Wagga

A truck driver has called for Wagga Wagga in New South Wales to get a 24 hour truck stop with fuel, food, toilets, showers and ample safe parking. The driver says better facilities for trucks are urgently needed.

Veteran truckie, 72 year old Leigh Campbell has identified Crown Land at the intersection of the Sturt and Olympic Highways as an ideal location.

The truckie has been driving the Hume Highway for 44 years and expressed his frustration that parking restrictions in Wagga don’t allow truck drivers to park near food outlets or toilets.

Mr Campbell explains,

 

“Truck drivers are very welcome in Wagga – just leave your bloody truck at home,” he says. He jokes that truckies should bring their own portable toilets. “And you’d better bring some deodorant because there ain’t no showers in the place.”

Source: https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/industry-news/1802/veteran-operator-demands-wagga-truck-stop

Bomen is another growing industrial suburb in Wagga’s north that Campbell has identified as in need of a large truck stop.

Mr Campbell in a letter to Owner Driver invited people to support his cause.

Wagga City Council Mayor, Cr Greg Conkey, agreed that Wagga is in need of better facilities for truck drivers. He says a recently completed Integrated Transport Study identifies the need for a truck interchange.

“Facilities are lacking, and it’s something that needs to be addressed by this council,” Conkey says. “We are addressing those. We’re certainly looking at improving those facilities, bearing in mind we had a very low base to start with. So anything would be better than what we have at the moment.”

Source: https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/industry-news/1802/veteran-operator-demands-wagga-truck-stop

This is crucial to road safety if we are to avoid truck drivers driving while fatigued. Former Wagga City councillor Alan Brown also pushed for improved facilities for truck drivers when he was on council but highlighted that a developer would be needed who was willing to invest in the cause.

“You’ve got to get a developer interested in doing it,”

“It would be an expensive proposition but there’s an absolute need for it.

“It needs to be someone that’s got vision and the money to do it. It would certainly be a commercially viable operation.”

See more at https://www.ownerdriver.com.au/industry-news/1802/veteran-operator-demands-wagga-truck-stop