On 13 December 2022 a transport operator was fined $5,000 in NSW for using a vehicle on a road in a configuration that was different to how it was registered

In a recent court case published in the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) website we see that a business was fined for being over mass ($15,000) and for “one count of using a heavy vehicle, not in a registered configuration” ($5,000) this charge was not under the Heavy Vehicle National Law  (HVNL) but actually under the NSW Road Transport Act.*

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We know that this kind of thing happens often due to relatively simple mistakes. Compliance administrators in transport companies often have many different roles in the business and to gain an in depth understanding of Australia's registration system including the various government codes associated with the registration and what they mean for the operations is nearly impossible and training new staff in this type of thing is often at the bottom of a very long priority list.

In many operations the person that pays the registration is not the same person that is responsible for the fleet or drivers which means that information related to registration codes may not be shared / checked easily or often. 

We get to see many different ways that businesses manage their registration expiries (paper calendars, spreadsheets, whiteboards etc.) often these systems work okay but what they don’t do is make sure that the combinations are legal.

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How does Unavin help?

Unavin by design checks the configuration compliance for every combination when allocations are executed, detection of non-compliant configurations occurs automatically in the system, ensuring that everyone in the team is able to meet their Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL) obligations and demonstrate that they are taking reasonably practicable steps to ensure the safety of their transport activities related to heavy vehicle registration.

Our customers are also able to answer customer audit questions like:

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Question 1. Describe your system to track vehicle registrations to ensure they are current?

Answer: Unavin

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Question 2. Describe your system to ensure vehicles are only operated in the combinations that they are registered for?

Answer: Unavin
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Get in touch

Get in touch with us to see how we can reduce risk in your business and how many more of your Auditor’s questions we can help you answer!!

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https://www.unavin.com.au/contact

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*NSW Road Transport Act says:

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15 Vehicles registered in another jurisdiction

(1)  The owner of a chargeable heavy vehicle registered in another jurisdiction, or which is exempted from registration in another jurisdiction (other than because the vehicle is registered elsewhere), must not:

(a)  use or drive the vehicle on a road other than in the configuration for which it is registered or in which it is so exempt 

(b)  cause or permit it to be so driven on a road.

For a NSW registered vehicle they would likely have been charged under sch 2 cl 11 (1) Road Transport Act 2013 which states:

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11 Changes in owners or to vehicles must be notified to TfNSW

(1)  A person in whose name a chargeable heavy vehicle is registered must notify Transport for NSW of any change during the currency of the registration in the construction, equipment, configuration, use or ownership of the vehicle of such a nature that registration charges or additional registration charges would be payable if the registration was renewed when the change occurred.

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