SA Police drop charges against Cleanaway over horror 2014 South Eastern Freeway crash that killed two people, injured two others
EXCLUSIVE: Charges against the owners of the truck involved in 2014’s horror South Eastern Freeway crash have been dropped — throwing the case against its driver into jeopardy.
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CHARGES against the owners of the truck involved in 2014’s horror South Eastern Freeway crash have been dropped – throwing the case against its driver into jeopardy.
On Thursday, SA Police withdrew allegations that waste company Cleanaway had allowed an unsafe sewage truck on the road, where it killed two people and injured two others three years ago.
The Advertiser can reveal Cleanaway successfully argued it had no knowledge the brakes were faulty – because it outsourced maintenance to another company, Adelaide Heavy Diesel.
It had asserted that Adelaide Heavy Diesel serviced the truck prior to the fatal crash but it “gave no notice” of the need to fix or replace the brakes.
The truck’s driver, Darren Michael Hicks, is now seeking to have his dangerous driving case thrown out, saying the malfunction left him incapable of slowing, stopping or controlling the truck.
Should he succeed, the sole recourse for the families of victims Tom Spiess and Jacqui Byrne would be to sue Adelaide Heavy Diesel.
Mr Spiess, 56, and Ms Byrne, 41, died as a result of injuries they sustained in the crash on August 18, 2014. A coronial inquest subsequently heard Hicks’ truck was out of control and travelling at 151km/h in the final 190m before impacting with their cars.
It also heard Hicks had only been working for Cleanaway – then known as Transpacific – for a week prior to the crash.
Cleanaway temporarily grounded its 2800-truck fleet, while the SA Government immediately slashed speed limits on the freeway. Police subsequently charged the company with using a heavy vehicle that was unsafe and contravening heavy vehicle standards.
Commonwealth safety regulators charged it with seven counts of failing to adequately train Hicks. That prosecution is continuing.
The Advertiser understands that during negotiations with police, Cleanaway argued all of its fleet maintenance had been outsourced to Adelaide Heavy Diesel.
It is understood Cleanaway asserted that company’s “qualified mechanics” had given “no notice” of the faulty brakes and that, as a result, the charges “could never succeed”.
On Thursday, the matter was called on before the Adelaide Magistrates Court so that police prosecutors could withdraw both charges.
Meanwhile Hicks, who was also injured in the crash, has filed an application to have his case thrown out.
He has yet to plead to two counts of causing death, and one count of causing serious harm, by dangerous driving and two counts of driving without due care.
In his court application, Hicks says that police experts have identified the faulty brakes as both the cause of the crash and the reason he could not slow down on the Freeway’s steep descent.
That, he asserts, shows he was driving neither dangerously nor without due care, and so has not committed any offence.
Hicks’ application will be heard next week.