The New Zealand Trucking Association is calling for urgent reform following a transport company director’s guilty plea to manslaughter over a fatal crash involving an unroadworthy 20-tonne truck.
“If you are contracting trucks into your business, it’s no longer enough to take someone’s word that they’re compliant,” NZ Trucking Association chief executive David Boyce says.
“A clipboard induction and a promise won’t hold up when lives are on the line.”
His comments follow Ashik Ali’s guilty plea to manslaughter. Ali, the owner of Ashik Transport Ltd, admitted responsibility after his defective truck fatally struck Downer construction worker Jonathan Walters during roadworks in Remuera in May 2024. Walters died in hospital days after the incident.
Ali had worked a 12-hour shift at another site before driving the Isuzu truck, which had previously been deemed unsafe and prohibited from use on public roads. The vehicle had failed multiple inspections, with authorities issuing infringement notices and declaring its brakes dangerous as recently as 2021.
Ali initially left the scene but was later arrested and charged. He will be sentenced later this year.
Boyce says the court case exposed multiple failures that allowed the incident to occur.
The truck involved was already known to be defective, and the operator had a history of safety issues. Despite this, the contractor was permitted on-site, and there appeared to be no effective regulatory mechanism from NZTA or other authorities to prevent it, Boyce says.
“The current system has no teeth. No one is truly held to account until it’s too late.”
He says the case highlights wide systemic failure and a culture of “she’ll be right” to take precedence over safety, compliance, and human life.
Boyce is urging businesses to make TruckSafe certification a minimum requirement for contractors.
“TruckSafe is an independently audited safety management system… backed by evidence.
“Demanding proof of safety isn’t unreasonable, it’s essential. Lives depend on it,” he says.
Read the full NZ Herald report on the case, including the truck’s history of compliance failures and details from the court.
