SHAH ALAM, June 13 — The company owner of the lorry involved in last month’s Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) truck accident in Teluk Intan, Perak, will be taken to court, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said today.
He said this follows the revocation of the company’s vehicle operator’s licence.
“These are two separate things — many are confused with this vehicle operator licence and the vehicle’s permit.
“Permit is issued for each vehicle, but each company that owns these vehicles, they have a vehicle operator licence.
“This is a big licence — in the context of this case, we have revoked the vehicle operator licence, which means all of the company’s vehicles can no longer be in operation,” Loke told reporters after his visit to the Scania Malaysia headquarters here.
The accident that occurred on May 13 involved a gravel-laden lorry and an FRU truck on Jalan Chikus-Sungai Lampam, Teluk Intan.
The Transport Ministry had yesterday revealed that the lorry did not have the permission to carry the load of 40,960 kg of gravel, which exceeded 70 per cent of the permitted load limit.
“The owner of the company will be taken to court. As for the families, they too can file a case to get compensation,” Loke added.
In the investigation report released yesterday, the lorry was also found not equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) as required by the Land Public Transport Agency (APAD).
The accident that occurred at 8.54 am on May 13 took nine FRU members’ lives, while nine others were injured after the FRU truck they were travelling in collided with the tipper lorry.
The report noted that the Road Transport Department (JPJ) is continuing its investigations, with findings to be forwarded to the prosecution for further action.
It also highlighted that the lack of seat belts and the design of the rear “bench” seats in the FRU lorry were key factors in the high death toll.
According to the report, the mechanism of injury to the victims in the FRU lorry was also exacerbated by the presence of unrestrained objects in the cabin that could potentially become secondary projectiles during the collision.
