Hi VM,
It's not just the declaration it's the DG License that's required that many guys just don't have.
Like I said it's all a bit over the top but these are the rules we have to live with because so many dummies will continue to break the rules and that's when stupid things go horribly wrong and someone has to die due to it all.
Mate, this is a big nationwide freighting company that has been in operation for donkey's ages - probably one of the earliest in Australia in fact. They have many licensed drivers and when I searched online I found their Dangerous Good Declaration form is available for download. So why did they fail to tell this to the sender?
It seems that draining the tank is not even good enough these days. You have to also "flush it through", whatever that means. I guess they mean to use water and detergent.
As for people getting killed for not following the rules, I say again, I have yet to see an old engine block that has not had fuel or oil in it for 10 years explode when it is not even running. This law is stupid in the extreme. It is like the many other stupid laws and rules we now have in this country, e.g. many people would not know that it is illegal to pick up a beetle in a national park and put it back down again without a permit. In Western Australia it is actually illegal to break off the tiniest twig of a plant, either native or weed, or even handle one for that matter, on the roadside or on private property in order to photograph it. (I know this because a good friend of mine had to apply for a permit to do just that!) It is also technically illegal to pick up a feather off a native bird and place it in your hat, or to mow some species of native grasses that are endangered, regardless of whether or not you can identify the species. It is illegal for a farmer to pick up an Aboriginal artefact and move it off his cultivation paddock, and yet he can whack away at it with his farming implements to his heart's content, just so long as he does so ignorantly and without any mal-intent he cannot be punished.
At the end of the day, what is it they say about stupid laws that make no common sense? "People should just ignore them and get on with their lives." Most reasonable people do just that, otherwise no work in this country would ever get done. I am sure that is why so many engine parts, motorbikes and yes, even lawnmowers are still getting transported around. Most sensible people are reasonable about things and instead of following the letter f the law are willing to find some flexibility within the rules and regulations on a case by case basis. I guess I just really dislike the sticklers who are not willing to budge or compromise on the often unreasonable and illogical demands placed on us by desk jockeys and other Fat Cat bureaucrats.
