Hire and Rental News - November 2015

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30 ACCESS IN ACTION • NOVEMBER 2015
ACCESS in ACTION
NOVEMBER 2015
VOL17 NO 2
7200 (Audit period March 2015)
CAB Member since March 2010
ELEVATING WORK PLATFORM ASSOCIATION LTD
ABN 70 093 630 847
EWPA
PO Box 1304, Mona Vale NSW 1660
Tel: 02 9998 2222 Fax: 02 9998 2299
Email:
Web:
THE BOARD
President: Rick Mustillo
Tel: 02 9817 7610 Fax: 02 9817 7630
Vice President: Mitch Ely
Tel: 07 3456 4508 Fax: 07 3456 4400
Past President: Tim Nuttall
Tel: 03 9547 7700 Fax: 03 9547 7766
Chief Executive Officer: James Oxenham
Tel: 0410 704 979
Operations Manager: Nicolas Chiew
Tel: 0410 468 468
NSW President: John Glover
Tel: 02 9735 7600 Fax: 02 9735 7699
VIC President: Tim Hille
Tel: 03 9555 1116 Fax: 03 9555 3332
QLD President: Richard Gannon
Tel: 07 3277 7255 Fax: 07 3277 8611
SA President: Ben Pritchard
Tel: 08 8262 1000 Fax: 08 8262 1697
WA President: Will Reilly
Tel: 08 9456 4400 Fax: 08 9456 4411
TRAINING DIRECTOR
Phil Middleton
Tel: 02 9622 6060 Fax: 02 9622 5660
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Peter Wenn
Tel: 03 9568 7211 Fax: 03 9568 7255
COMMITTEE
Dean Halliwell
Tel: 02 9623 3329 Fax: 02 9623 3207
Bob Mules
Tel: 02 8718 6300 Fax: 02 8718 6377
Peter Davis
Tel: 02 8796 5055 Fax: 02 8796 5052
Doug Rawlings
Tel: 08 9350 5700 Fax: 08 9350 5503
Keith Clarke
Tel: 03 9792 1000 Fax: 03 9792 1011
TELESCOPIC HANDLER ASSOCIATION OF
AUSTRALIA (TSHA)
President:
Stuart Walker
Tel: 02 9517 3174
Fax: 02 9517 3274
Opinions published in the Hire and Rental Industry
Association magazine – Hire and Rental News – do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the association
or the Editor. The HRIA accepts no responsibility
for the accuracy of any information contained in
this magazine and readers should rely upon their
own enquiries in making decisions related to their
own interest.
The contents of this publication are subject to
copyright and cannot be reproduced in any way or
form without written consent from the Editor.
All rights reserved. ISSN 1838-1197
Learning business sense the hard way...
president's message
After a slow start the first quarter has been a busy one by all
accounts. The new year began with a soft economy, a weakened
dollar and a host of challenges facing the big corporate sectors.
For this report I am going to
break with convention and
relay a personal experience I
think is worth relaying.
I have been involved in
the EWP industry for
approximately 27 years and
it is an industry I have come
to love. In that time I have
been lucky enough to have
travelled the world, met some
fantastic people and made
life-long friends. So it's with a
sad heart after all these years I
have come to realise even our
industry has its unscrupulous
operators.
Now the reason for me
mentioning this is not to point
the finger at any one company
but to make our industry
aware a personal guarantee
in some cases is not worth
the paper it's written on, even
if the guarantor does indeed
have assets.
Unfortunately I have come
to learn this first hand. I
learned the hard way not
everyone operates with the
same level of integrity and
in business we all need to
protect ourselves. Business
is business. And I should
not have been swayed by
personal guarantees.
The situation arose when I
was owed a certain amount
of money. Naively I thought
having a signed personal
guarantee accompanying the
credit application meant I
was covered for the amount
owing. So armed with these
documents I proceeded to
lodge a claim with the court
to recover my funds.
My day in court arrived and
I smugly and confidently
turned up at the hearing.
Sitting in front of the judge
and being sworn in to tell
the whole truth nothing but
the truth etc… I am shocked
to see the defendant hasn’t
turned up. Now I’m thinking,
this is going to go really well.
Five minutes goes by and
“His Honour” hasn’t said a
word. Then he looks up from
his reading and said: “Looks
like you have been taken
for a ride.” No arguments
from me. Next statement is:
“Please explain why this case
shouldn’t be dismissed?”
A feeling of dread suddenly
came over me and I asked:
“What do you mean?”
The reply: “How can a person
guarantee a debt after a
business has gone into
liquidation?”
Ummm, not sure.
“OK, case dismissed.”
It appears the chronological
sequence events in my
case are; Company A rolls
over and starts Company
B, then Company B goes
into liquidation and then a
guarantee is signed.
Which effectively means even
though Company B keeps
trading under an insolvent
name the guarantee is
worthless.
So the moral of the story is,
even though you have a
personal guarantee make sure
you don’t become complacent
as I did and keep a close
eye on your debtor for any
unusual warning signs. In my
case a very expensive lesson.
I would like to take this
occasion to wish Tony Driver
well. For those of you who
know Tony, he has been
struggling health wise for a
while now and has recently
had an extended stay in
hospital. From his Facebook
posts I think he may be going
a tad stir crazy. I am sure you
will all join me in wishing
Tony a speedy recovery. I
know he has a long road
ahead of him.
Rick Mustillo
EWPA National President
Nicholas Sardi has
completed the specialist
trade of Certicate III
Elevating Work Platform
Technology. Nicholas is the
first apprentice in Victoria,
and indeed, Australia, to
complete the course.
The EWP apprenticeship
program which developed
in conjunction with Auto
Skills Australia (ASA) and
the Elevating Work Platform
Association (EWPA), draws
on training or learning
modules relevant to EWPs
from existing mechanical
qualifications. For more on
EWP apprenticeships visit:
First Apprentice in EWP
Technology completed
Rick Mustillo