Stan Semenoff with his trucks. Photo/Michael Cunningham
Northland's largest log hauler Stan Semenoff Logging has hit back at criticism of its road safety record by the NZ Transport Agency, saying it has only had four speeding tickets in four years.
A statement from a spokesman for the company, headed by former Whangarei mayor Stan Semenoff, challenged the agency's legal action, indicating the business was obeying road rules and ensuring its drivers performed their duties safely.
Semenoff's statement said the business only had four speeding tickets in four years, claims of logbook offences were invalid because drivers were taking breaks, the business had a four-star rating and, instead of the 116 offences the agency claimed, the business only had nine traffic offence notices in four years.
"NZTA legal counsel Steve Haszard has stated Stan Semenoff Logging has been guilty of 116 'speed and traffic-related offences' over a four-year period. Fact: SSL notes nine traffic offences: four speeding tickets, two for not wearing a seatbelt, two for not displaying the [license] number on the windscreen, one for failing to give way," the Stan Semenoff Logging statement said.
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"The 116 offences refer to roadside inspection infringements. None of these was a safety issue. These are for minor Certificate of Fitness defects and in no case was the truck ordered off the road. In every instance, the vehicle was allowed to continue its trip to Marsden Point to deliver its logs," the company statement said.
Shane Jones, Regional Economic Development and Associate Transport Minister last week said he was worried about NZTA action against the transporter.
"I'm concerned about the economic implications flowing from issues between NZTA and Semenoff Logging," Jones said, following a High Court decision a fortnight ago where the transporter won a temporary suspension of a ban on its licence.
The agency said it wants to revoke Stan Semenoff Logging's transport service licence because of continuing failure to address safety concerns about driver fatigue and behaviour, breaches of work time and rest time rules, pervasive logbook issues and the accumulation of 116 speed and traffic-related offences over a four-year period.
Meredith Connell managing partner Steve Haszard, who has been overseeing NZTA's regulatory compliance, said the entity has been strongly encouraging Stan Semenoff Logging since 2016 to get the company to lift its safety standards.
"The Transport Agency has given Stan Semenoff Logging every opportunity to provide evidence of improvement, but over the course of two audits and three years we have seen that this company is either unwilling or unable to comply with the necessary transport operator safety standards," Haszard said.
"The revocation is a safety decision, plain and simple. It's not just about the safety of Mr Semenoff's drivers, it's about the safety of all Northland's other road users," he said.
"As with every revocation we enforce, we know this will have an impact on those people employed by the company, and that is why we have made every effort to extensively engage with Mr Semenoff to avoid getting to this point," Haszard's statement said.
In August 2018, the agency served a notice of a proposal to Stan Semenoff to get it to provide evidence it was now complying with the required safety standards, Haszard said.
"It was ultimately up to Stan Semenoff Logging to avoid this situation by demonstrating safety improvement. We were given many assurances from his company that standards would be lifted, but in the end, they weren't," Haszard said.
Stan Semenoff Logging had the right to appeal the decision to the District Court, Haszard said.
The Semenoff statement issued to the Herald emphasised the company workload: "Each year SSL vehicles make 30,000 trips between the forest and Marsden Point, a total of 4.8 million kms of travel. SSL is proud of its safety record and has never had an injury accident. SSL has a four-star safety rating under NZTA's criteria – the exact same rating as Fonterra."
The business also addressed breaches of work time and rest time rules: "The longest SSL drivers can be behind the wheel continuously is three hours. It is not possible to drive 5.5 hours in Northland. Heading north from Marsden Point, they will drive off Cape Reinga long before the time is up. Heading south from the forest they will find themselves in the Waikato.
"Responsible operators ensure drivers can have rest breaks where there are restrooms and access to hot and cold drinks. For SSL and other logging firms in Northland, these areas are in the forest and at the port," the company said.
On March 22, the company won a temporary stay on its license revocation in the High Court at Auckland.