A Canterbury contractor fined more than $12,000 for an overweight agricultural vehicle is just the latest hit by rules the industry says are crippling some operators.
Rural contractors say current regulations are decades out of date and don’t reflect the size of modern machinery now being used.
The requirements are under review but there’s concerns about what will happen in the meantime.
A tractor and trailer with cattle feed in tow en route to a local farm in Mid Canterbury last month resulted in a $12,150 fine for the contracting firm operating it.
Jacob Holdaway of Jacob Holdaway Contracting told 1News the unit and its contents – “about 39 tonne as a gross combination” – was deemed overweight.
He said the laws for weight limits on New Zealand roads date back to the 1970s to late 1990s.
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“They just simply null and void and we need to have a change so we can keep operating this machinery on the road,” Holdaway said.
He said the current weight regulations didn’t reflect the size of agricultural machinery now being used.
“We picked up a new tractor the other day from the dealership. We bought it back here and weighed it. It’s already overweight.”
The industry body Rural Contractors New Zealand said it was an issue plaguing its members across the country.
“[The] government have said that it needs tidying up and it needs to be addressed,” Rural Contractors NZ vice president Daryl Thompson said. “But in the meantime, coming into spring, contractors, farmers are getting slapped with very, very heavy fines [and] being stopped from moving between farms.”
But, with the government review set to take months, the organisation is calling for discretion in the interim, adding that fines were disproportionate and urgent action was needed now.
Transport Minister Chris Bishop said there would be a draft plan out by October, with the Government hoping to have the new rules out by the middle of next year.
“[We] fully acknowledge and appreciate the problem. We are going to make the changes that are required — it’s just going to take a few months. In the meantime, they should be talking to the officials about discretion and how that might be applied.”
Thompson said some contractors were “very, very fearful of driving out of their yard” while the current laws were in place.
Holdaway added that they wanted to be able to operate efficiently.
“But at the end of the day, the law’s the law, and we need to see a change to that law,” he said.