Dumped trailers suddenly vanish from Charlton

AFTER reading the dozens of Facebook comments about our story on the dumped fridge vans at the Charton pads, truckies’ advocate Wes Walker decided to go back to the site to take a second look.

One reader had already said two were gone, and many others joked about helping themselves to the trailers that once carried goods for Emerald Refrigerated Logistics, which folded last year, owing millions.

“They’ve all gone now,” said Walker before snapping off a few pictures of the area the rusting fridge vans had occupied for months.

“I think that once people read that the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) weren’t interested in unregistered and unroadworthy vehicles on their facility, it could be alleged that they were taken for storage on acreage.”

Walker also rang the administrators who told him they were surprised to hear the news of the trailers’ disappearance.

Walker said he’s just glad that the space has been finally freed up for working fleets on a site that’s already operating at its capacity.

When Big Rigs asked TMR if it knew where the trailers had gone, or who had taken them, we got this emailed response: “We are aware the trailers are no longer parked at Charlton Heavy Vehicle Decoupling Facility.”

A spokesperson for administrators Jirsch Sutherland told Big Rigs that the five trailers were not the property of Emerald Refrigerated Logistics, despite the company’s name being on them, and would prefer not to comment.

“Jirsch Sutherland is only aware of one trailer not ac- counted for that is owned by the company,” the spokesperson said.

As for the financial fate of former employees, 25 have ap- plied for the government’s FEG scheme with $851,395 paid out. Another two are currently waiting on payouts. A further $1.975m is owed in super.