Shame for VicRoads after $5m truck bungle backs thieves

A BUSINESSMAN was ignored by VicRoads for four months — and even thrown out of a Vic­Roads branch — after their bungling allowed his $5 million truck fleet to be stolen.

A BUSINESSMAN was ignored by VicRoads for four months after its bungling allowed his $5 million truck fleet to be stolen.

At one stage, Leon Hennessy was thrown out of a Vic­Roads branch as he tried to explain how the body had allowed his livelihood to be snatched by a group using a web of lies and false signatures.

In a humiliating backdown, the transport regulator has handed back the fleet, but only after Mr Hennessy called on the Herald Sun for help.

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The trucker said he was regularly disgusted as he saw his Hennessy Transport equipment — 19 trucks and 15 trailers — rolling around the roads of Melbourne. The criminals used fake business ownership documents which they then used to transfer the fleet into their hands.

Mr Hennessy said they forged his signature at Vic­Roads, even spelling his name wrong at one point. The shysters then contacted a GPS company Mr Hennessy had previously engaged to monitor his fleet, asked for equipment then went out and collected it.

Police were called but they told Mr Hennessy they could do nothing because he did not own it any more.

Mr Hennessy said he constantly contacted VicRoads, only to be told the issue was a civil matter.

A businessman was ignored by VicRoads for four months after its bungling allowed his $5 million truck fleet to be stolen.

“By the end of it, they knew who I was. They’d say, ‘Leon, we’ve had this conversation. It’s a civil matter.’

“I’d say, ‘OK, how about I come and steal your car and we’ll call that a civil matter’.”

Mr Hennessy said he had seen his equipment being driven around Melbourne by another operator while he was left with no income and subcontractors without work.

He contacted police but was told they could do nothing.

Some of the equipment was located at a property at Wallan, north of Melbourne, but Mr Hennessy was powerless to get it back.

“They couldn’t go and pick it up because it wasn’t reported stolen,” Mr Hennessy said.

“You wake up one morning and you’re told, ‘mate, you don’t own these trucks’.”

The owner said his three Harley-Davidson motorcycles, valued at $100,000, have also been moved into other hands.

His company has operated since 2007 and does haulage locally and interstate.

It had been having financial difficulties earlier this year and the owner, at one stage, looked at selling.

VicRoads’ executive director of registration and licensing, Sally Curtain said: “At the request of Victoria Police, we have reinstated the registrations back into the original name. I’ve spoken to Mr Hennessy and told him we’re running a thorough investigation to understand how this ­occurred.”

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