The NHVR has reveal that it has successfully prosecuted and heavily fined a Queensland-based heavy vehicle operator after the company pleaded guilty to eight offences of breaching a court-ordered Supervisory Intervention Order.
Hawkins Transport wasfined $60,000 in the Townsville Magistrates Court last Friday, with the offences including failing to present heavy vehicles for required safety inspections on seven occasions, with a total of 38 vehicles failing to be presented, as well as failing to provide copies of defect notices issued to its vehicles during the period of the order.
The NHVR tells us that the Supervisory Intervention Order was imposed in November 2024 after the operator was convicted and fined $55,000 for failing to ensure its heavy vehicle fleet was adequately maintained, serviced and repaired.
The original investigation followed a 2022 crash in Charters Towers in which a heavy vehicle was found to have a potentially dangerous braking system, with defects also identified on the trailer.
The 12-month Supervisory Intervention Order was imposed after the court considered the operator was, or was likely to become, a systemic or persistent offender under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.
The same operator was also issued a prohibition notice this year by the NHVR and its operations were grounded after the regulator identified an immediate or imminent serious risk to public safety associated with its heavy vehicle fleet.
This action followed a history that included six known heavy vehicle crashes in 2026. Between 1 January 2025 and 6 August 2026, 111 defect notices were issued in relation to the operator’s vehicles, including 35 major defect notices.
Since the prohibition notice was lifted, the operator’s vehicles have continued to record a significant level of non-compliance.
As of 7 October 2026, the NHVR said it had completed 108 first inspections of the operator’s heavy vehicles. Of those, 92 failed and 16 passed, representing a first-inspection failure rate of 85.2 per cent. This included 11 major defects involving 32 major components.
The NHVR’s executive director for statutory compliance Paul Alsbury said the case demonstrated the importance of operators having effective systems in place to identify and manage heavy vehicle safety risks.
“Heavy vehicle operators have a legal responsibility to identify and manage the risks associated with their operations, including ensuring their vehicles are properly maintained and safe to operate,” Alsbury said.
“This case demonstrates the consequences when those responsibilities are not met and that serious and ongoing safety risks have the potential to lead to catastrophic outcomes,” he said
