WA livestock transporters will approach the government for compensation following the successful appeal of Mitchell's Transport in the District Court recently.
Mitchell's Transport owner John Mitchell won an appeal against Main Roads meaning he did not have to put a partition in the front unit of his B-double trailers, a move which Mr Mitchell believes would have made the trailers unsafe.
In 2002, Mr Mitchell built eight B-doubles at a length of about 20m of internal deck space but the rules were changed in 2008, restricting B-doubles to 18.8m of deck space.
Other WA livestock transporters say they had been advised not to build the B-double trailer because it would be phased out under the new laws.
Leeds Transport owner John Leeds said he was forced to modify one trailer under the regulation changes.
Mr Leeds believes as a result of Mr Mitchell's successful appeal, he and other transporters should be entitled to some sort of compensation for the costs incurred.
"We cut them up because that is what we were told to do," Mr Leeds said.
"The government has got to look at compensation for us particularly now that Mr Mitchell has won this case."
Mr Leeds said at the time of the rule change, he did not want to modify the length of his trailer because he had a strong industry advantage by having it.
He said he modified the trailer and lost that advantage at an added cost to him.
Mr Leeds said in the past he had sought advice to find out if he could build the B-double trailers and was advised he couldn't because the trailer would no longer be allowed on the road.
"We were told the trailers would eventually be put off the road," he said.
"It cost me $22,000 to modify the trailer and I always knew we would have to cut it up eventually.
"I could have had up to seven of these trailers but we were advised not to build them."
Mr Leeds said the 20m trailers could hold a lot more cattle and he and other livestock transporters could have made a lot more money.
"The transporters who could have had them all this time have had their earning capacity slashed," he said.
"We have lost the opportunity to put the extra volume of cattle on the trucks.
"At this stage, we are waiting on advice on who we seek compensation from because if Mr Mitchell is allowed to run his trailers as they are then what about the people who went out and modified them?
"It is not fair for everybody else."
Another cattle carrier, who wished to remain anonymous, told Farm Weekly he had a trailer and sold it two years ago because he was told it didn't comply with the rules and never would comply.
"I decided to get a state of the art pocket train built instead," the source said.
"The trailer I sold made $90,000 and the pocket train I had to buy was $380,000 so there was quite a major cost difference.
"And (the new trailer) has got two more axles underneath it so you can't overload it and your operating costs are higher.
"I will probably look at some sort of compensation for what we have done.
"There is a number of livestock transport industry people who are very disappointed about the decision because now there is an advantage in the industry."
Livestock and Rural Transport Association of WA (LRTAWA) president Grant Robins said he would not like to comment until after a LRTAWA board meeting next week.
He said in principle the LRTAWA supported 18.8m and equivalent in deck length and believed there would be no industry advantage as long as the weight limits were enforced.
