Thomas H Cabban. Const. Gundagai

When 1080 worked the Mansfield area he had a mate called 540 cause they reckon he was only half as deadly!
Billy

Been doing a bit of googlin'......

Apparently one of the trucking mags did a feature on him when he retired about 1986 and another after he died on March 7th 2006.

Anyone able to check their old Truckin' Life collection and see of it's there please?


As an aside, I've seen other references to highway patrol blokes pretending to be the Taipan but surely truck drivers are smart enough to look at the signature on the ticket!

Yes , Trucking Life did a two page spread when he retired, He was thrilled, he was soo chuffed he bought everyone a copy, I still have mine stored somewere around here.

The funeral coverage was one page and yep, have them together..

Has any other coppa been so honoured? I cant remember any?

now if you play fair and put in some more, other side stories, I'll tell some more of my, "under the table sound asleep" stories I heard when they both thought I was out to it and the man talk could continue. :

would have had my hide tanned off if they had known I was hanging on every word.

One of em, had me having nightmares for years, one I would have gladly missed out on but in hindsight perhps saved my life once I was on the road and behind a wheel myself, it sure influenced how I drive when I was old enough to get my license.

The funny part of it is he had a brother, a real likeable bloke, who drove trucks, Doug I think, and he reckoned he was a basket.

This one has me curious to say the least, the only one either brother spoke about like that was their sister......

C'Mon Asal, you know we want em, dredge the memory bank!
Personally I've never been able to understand why in the hell anyone would want to book truckies- but thats because I've never been on the other side.
And there IS always two sides to every story, so it's great to get your "other side"!
And possibly more so because this bloke sounds like such an interesting mix of contradictions, what with his history and all.
Cheersnta in anticipation!
Richard

i can remember (not sure if it was cabban) a story years ago in a truck mag and one truckie he often had "trouble" with had used the log book page to do his "business with" before the log book was handed over to the copper .. and that was the word of the copper ... im not sure if id try that

I can remember the reason he gave dad when people began complaining about how hard be suddenly became on truckie's, forget the year but not long after getting to Gundaidai.
One of his best mates was so tired the truck was wobbling, not speeding but obvious he was having trouble.
Pulled him over and offered to take him back for a good sleep and return him to the truck after. (Think we all now know they are now called microsleeps)
Promised he was heading the truck stop just further on and woud have a good kip there.

Took him at his word and went on his way. Less than 20 minutes get a call to a fatal.

I remember him saying to dad, their bosses tell them they have to make the deadlines, I didnt arrest him and lock him up for the night knowing he was not safe to drive, His death is as much my fault as his bosses.

He had other friends die because their defective trucks went out of control, failed brakes, bald tyes you all know the ones that take out good men no matter how good a driver they are.

There was one company three died in defective trucks, remember him telling dad after he warned "get them fixed or I will not let one through my area witout a full check" the warning was ignored.

he set up they copped a speeding, first pullover, another speeding at the second pullover then a speeding and every defect findable at the third, thats the time the biggest price went on his head. (As he said, the poor buggers had to speed to get to base in time, had to drive these death traps to make a wage)

weirdest though, the chap was happy to offer a reward on Toms head,yet didnt fix the trucks? Think his trucking company went broke.. no way i would take a bet you chaps dont know who that was

As he told dad, defective trucks dont just kill or maim good drivers, they kill or maim whatever innocent happens to be in the way when all goes haywire and crooked.

Same reason he detested speeding drivers of any vehicle, they were not just endngering their own lives but whoever was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As for anyone stupid enough to offer him a bribe to forget it ever happend, they would be lucky if he couldnt find enough things to chage em that they could escape without their license being cancelled as well.

Perhaps might help you to understand a little, anyway, why so many thought he "picked" on truckies.

As he said to dad, so many good men slaughterd at kokoda, shouldnt be happening on our roads.
He said, when the new replacements arrived us old hands wouldnt mix with them or learn their names. We would tell them all we had learned to stay alive but the majority wouldnt take it in in enough time and most would be gone within 2 weeks.

the ciguretes issued were the biggest killers. the new chums would forget not to light up after dusk, most who did that were gone by day 3.

Thanks for the story Ol Mate..
Appreciate the time your are taking here..

I think in so many instances, one of the most important things in life has been left behind and almost forgotten...

RESPECT...

chocs

Thanks for the story Ol Mate..
Appreciate the time your are taking here..

I think in so many instances, one of the most important things in life has been left behind and almost forgotten...

RESPECT...

chocs

Yes, some drivers just dont deserve any.

One night he was telling dad, why he had decided do forgoe simply pulling over a driver and just giving them a warning. No matter how sincerely sorry they seemed.

It was near Christmas, this chap was flying, when he pulled him over, apologised profuseley, hadnt noticed the speedo, as two of the kids had been fighting and his wife had been busy sorting it out so had his eye on the road and the rear view to check they were behaving now , or something on that line.

So Tom, told him to be more careful and have a good Christmas.

Not too much later, he got a call, speeding car had rolled.

Arriving at the scene he found one child on the road, dead.

Further down the road was another, also dead.

The walk continued, each child, then the mother.
From the spacings they must have come out of the car with each roll. all up so far four dead children and their mum. the fifth child a daughter lay as if asleep not a mark on her, he thought, thank god she has survived.
Gently he lifted her to get her off the road. As he did he heard something. her brains fell the back of her head sheared off clean as a knife by a road sign .

Pretty shaken by now , he remembered there was a baby as well in a basinette.

Reaching the car, the father was still in the drivers seat, still alive.

no sign of the baby. not a trace of it could be found.
finally the all clear was given to the tow truck to remove the car, except the second it began to move he could hear a childs cry.

frantic searching found the baby up under the dashboard.
except it was so impaled in the wiring and instruments it was dead by the time the ambos could get it free.

He had successfully wiped from the earth 6 children and his wife in a matter of seconds.

Tom will never know if issuing that idiot with the biggest fine he could justify might have caused enough hip pocket pain that these children might have had their chance to grow up instead of this ...................instead :'(


I know when I was much older and the HIV adds did so much to alert people to the dangers of HIV.

Wondered if Tom could have been taped that night and replayed.

What an impact it woudl have had on speeding drivers.

I know he described the awful scene so that I could see the road, see those darling children,, one by terrible one, his joy when he though he had found at least one only unconsious but alive, the sickening realisation of how wrong tht turned out to be.. then the tiny baby.

That was one night for years I wished that was one 'man talk' session I not been dismissed as asleep and talk began, so wished at the time had missed that one.
Couldnt dare say what the nightmares weee about.......or I would have been caught out and no more chance to hear their man talks , talk about being between a rock and hard place.

thanks again for the stories asal .. everyone's got a story to tell and i guess Tom Cabban would have found it that bit more difficult to open up, being seen to be the the upholder of the law...(bit like Sheriff Bufort T Justice )....

...it's all a risky game... his was to uphold, and for others ....to bend or break the rules

asal2 ... thanks for the background stories on Tom Cabban. I have been on the scene of quite a few nasty fatal incidents :'( both as a civvie and as a firie and agree that these incidents are never quite forgotten, but just tucked away in deep memory storage. Can't help thinking that if some DHs saw the 'dark' side their driving habits might change?