Police have charged 12 people following a crackdown on heavy vehicles during a five-day police operation in and around Parkes and Forbes. Operation Convoy was launched from 11 August by officers attached to Traffic and Highway Patrol Command on the main roads of Parkes, Forbes, Condobolin and Tullamore and surrounding areas. During the operation police conducted 489 heavy vehicles roadside breath tests, 332 drug tests, and issued 38 heavy vehicle infringement notices, detected 38 speed offences, and charged 12 people with 18 counts of offences. One truck driver is to face court on a charge of drive / permit not comply with dimension requirements - severe. Officers stopped the truck on Henry Parkes Way on the afternoon of 12 August, and the driver, a 56-year-old man – was issued a court attendance notice. Inquiries under Operation Convoy continue. One 46-year-old man was given a 24-hour driving prohibition following an alleged positive roadside drug test. Police stopped a van at Daroobalgie, on the Newell Highway, on 12 August, as checks alleged the registration was expired. The driver was subjected to a roadside drug test, which allegedly returned a positive reading. An oral fluid sample was obtained for further analysis at the scene.
