A truck driver fired after his truck was written off in an incident police believe was caused by mechanical failure has won more than $7000 from his former employer.
Richard Davis had worked for Kleana Bins for about five years when, last June 22, he backed his truck up a drive, engaged the handbrake and went to the back of the truck to load the rubbish, Employment Relations Authority member Rachel Larmer said in a finding released today.
He noticed the truck start rolling down the drive and ran to the front to try to stop it.
"His attempt was unsuccessful and the truck proceeded to get away with Mr Davis hanging from the front door,'' the finding said.
"The truck proceeded down the client's sloped driveway, across an access road and then down a grass verge between the access road and the footpath, which bordered on to a busy main road.''
The truck stopped just before the main road when it hit a kerb. The truck was written off.
The police attended and found evidence at least one of the truck's wheels had been parked on the grass verge beside the driveway; the type of brake in the truck meant all wheels had to be on a hard surface for it to be fully effective.
However, they considered the cause of the incident to be mechanical failure rather than negligence or carelessness, and Mr Davis was not charged with any offence.
Kleana disagreed, saying Mr Davis was at fault because he had parked the truck partially on the grass, despite Mr Davis saying he had not noticed that and therefore did not know the handbrake would not hold the vehicle.
"Kleana also alleged that Mr Davis had been negligent because he had not turned the wheels of the vehicle towards the concrete retaining wall beside the driveway,'' the finding said.
"It said that, if he had done so, the truck would have been likely to have moved into the retaining wall instead of having proceeded down the driveway towards the busy main road.''
Ms Larmer found that, in light of the police evidence, there was no legal requirement on Mr Davis to turn the truck wheels into the wall.
Mr Davis had been distressed by his unjustified dismissal, which had had a severe impact on him and his wife, she said.
"It also effectively isolated him because he has been unable to afford to continue with his motor racing hobby, which formed most of his social interaction.''
He had also had to sell his $35,000 vehicle for only $16,500 as he could not afford the repayments on it, and had to downgrade to a $2000 vehicle.
She found Kleana's dismissal of Mr Davis unjustified and awarded him six weeks' wages and $6500 compensation.
A Kleana spokesman declined to comment.
Mr Davis could not be reached for comment.
