Can anyone give me informtion about logbooks and how to fill them in. Not seen one before, is there a website and whats are the drivers hours and logbook regulations in Australia. I’m sure I read it somewhere you can drive for 14 hours straight or did I imagine that
The log,or lie,book is slowly being phased out.But you still have to fill them in.As a general rule;
In any 5 hour period a rest of 30 minutes is mandatory
Over 24 hours there is a max of 12 hours driving and 10 hours rest-note driving includes loading/unloading etc.
Over 168 hours there must be a continous rest period of 24 hours.
It is more specific and this is a very basic guide.
Go to www.vicroads.vic.gov.au
and look in the top left hand corner for commercial/heavy vehicles and hit the link and everything you wanted to know about trucking licence’s is there.VicRoads is the Victorian Licence Department.
Boots 
Thanks Boots, learnt something new there.
Another question, when my wife and I went to Australia we was stopping in NSW and we hired a car to go up into Queensland, the hire company said we could not venture out of Queensland becuase of the car registration, can trucks travel all over Australia on just one licence how does it work?
Roly
Your wife and yourself might have dealt with a small car rental firm i.e. the costs for bringing back the car from another state,and insurance etc etc-most of the big rental companies have no problems taking a car to any state.A few weeks ago a mate and his wife were in Hobart Tasmania and as they were flying out of Launceston the car rental co.wondered would it be possible,for no charge,to return a campervan back to their Launceston depot instead of the small Hyundai they had booked!!You guessed the answer!
As for trucks a single federal registration will cover the truck for all Australian states-you might have noticed the golden plates with "VX"or “V V”-they are the federal rego plates.
Now all truck drivers have a National Licence that is centralised.It was created to stop all the blokes losing your licence in one state and just simply applying in another state for the relevant truck licence.Too many speeding tickets-no probs as WA issues truck licences pronto and SA had cheap trailer registrations and the Transport Dept in Canberra were a wake up to it…the good ole days…
Hi Boots,
Thanks for answering the question.
For a road train licence do you know what I would need to do to pass i.e a road test and a theory test? Do you know of a website where I can revise from? I have a class one licence or a HC Licence, which I know I can transfer over to.
But I want to do some homework as well.
Any information which you can give me will help
Hi uktruckie,to upgrade your semi licence-HC(heavy combination single trailer)to a MC(Multi combination-which covers road trains and B Doubles)check a couple of sites;
www.armdrive.com.au
www.deca.com.au
Also Google search,google.com.au, under truck licence.This will bring up a lot of different sites for all Australian states and driving schools,road laws etc.
It will set you back,a few years ago,around $8-900.00 for a MC upgrade which covered theory and driving exam.
Boots
Thanks Boots, for the info, some good reading there.
I don’t mean to be cheeky but what can a class one (HC) driver normally take home a month.
Do most firms pay monthly or hourly?
Like in Canada does the driver have to pay for fuel, and does a driver get paid waiting time?
Are the trucks 12V OR 24V, I know someone is selling an Australian Satnav, it may become useful.
Are there any firms which you know of in the East side which have a bad rep?
Sorry for the questions need to prepair myself for whats in store.
Hi Uktruckie,no probs in answering questions as if you never ask you will never learn.
Most trucks are on 12V and with Euro and Japanese trucks invertors run the truck ac’s to 12V.Some units run 24V and it is great fun hooking up to a trailer and finding the lights gone from a 24V electrical prime mover that have blown the system.
Pay rates are widespread.Interstate runners paid by the kilometre,local by the hour,others on "Piece"rate-paid depending how many jobs you accomplish.
Changeover drivers i.e. drive a semi to a halfway point and change trailers with the driver from the opposite direction-meaning you are home everyday- on a 5 day work week take home over AUD$1,000.00 per week.As with local if you do the hours the $$ are there and working weekends thrown in.
Local HGV drivers,depending on company,are on AUD$15-18.00 p/hour-and trucking companies can’t work out why no one wants to drive trucks.A mate just started a casual job through an agency and when they saw his HC experience they were pleading with him to drive.Casual semi driver @ $18.00 p/hour Vs being an unskilled labourer in a warehouse shuffling boxes the pay starts at $20.00 p/hour with extra benefeits,wonder why he took the warehouse gig?
The waiting/detention time is zero if you are paid by the kilometre.If a DC stuffs you around- stiff.If a road is closed for 2-3 days- not our problem,if no loads availible and you wait a week in the middle of no where- tough.Truck breaksdown with major problems-so what! truck not making money is all companies worry about.
All trucking companies here are tarred by the same brush-as I am sure worldwide-you are just a number.
Boots
Looking at trucking world - wide, looks like the pay in the UK compared to other countries is not to bad, I’ve never known any company here paying per Kilometre or don’t pay a waiting time.
Done quite a bit of fridge work before and I have had to wait hours, but I’m on hourly rate.
But Australia is different it’s a fine Country
I’ve never known any company here paying per Kilometre or don’t pay a waiting time.
We’re paid mileage, and we don’t get waiting until after 3 hours (2 hours if it’s only a 20ft container). We are, however, guaranteed a minimum wage of £49.50 a day, and some very local jobs are paid as job rate…but that’s only to make it legal. It’s basically mileage all the way. That’s on Teesside, btw.
On container work you must get quite a bit of POA?
Lucy:
I’ve never known any company here paying per Kilometre or don’t pay a waiting time.
We’re paid mileage, and we don’t get waiting until after 3 hours (2 hours if it’s only a 20ft container). We are, however, guaranteed a minimum wage of £49.50 a day, and some very local jobs are paid as job rate…but that’s only to make it legal. It’s basically mileage all the way. That’s on Teesside, btw.
I would hand your company into the transport department quickish… it is illegal to pay milage payments in the uk… I was one that went on strike for 6 weeks to fight against milage payment’s in the 60’s, all bonus payments are illegal, and your still doing it today, your mad and if your cought out you can lose your LGV license,
£49.50 aday = £4.95 an hour for a 10 hr day
in australia most long distance is payed on a kiometre rate i get 30 cents a kilometre on my nightly sydney to melbourne trip 890 kilometres it takes 91/2 hours, i drop the trailer on the dock early morning and pick it up late afternoon
with the extras of $15 to drop and $15 to hook up plus $37.90 per night overnight allowance i have worked out we are better of than an hourly rate
tonka