Wicked Campers owner rejects criticism

The owner and director of Wicked Campers has rejected criticism levelled at the
company by the Queensland government and promised to concentrate on creating happy
campers.

State Acting Premier Paul Lucas on Sunday said all but four of the fleet of 86
popular backpacker hire campervans had been pulled off Queensland's roads because
they weren't roadworthy.
He said Wicked Campers voluntarily withdrew another 77 campervans and submitted the
remaining nine for roadworthy tests - but only four passed.
Mr Lucas told reporters he had written to other state governments to warn them about
the problem but John Webb, founder of the Brisbane-based company, has rejected the
claims.
He said Wicked Campers had 944 rental campervans operating in Australia, including
611 Queensland-registered vans currently on the nation's roads.
"Wicked Campers takes the safety of its fleet very seriously and we have cooperated
closely with the Queensland Department of Transport to ensure all our vehicles are
safe," Mr Webb told AAP.
"We have recently voluntarily deregistered around 50 vans and are also in the
process of introducing 500 upgraded vehicles over the next year.
"This will phase out all pre-2004 vans in our fleet."
Mr Webb said he was very disturbed by reports suggesting that most of the company's
vehicle fleet had been taken off the road.
"In contrast, about five per cent of our fleet has been voluntarily deregistered,
which is generally in line with car rental industry standards," he said.
"It is very much business as usual for Wicked - providing a safe and fun-filled
holiday for thousands of tourists."
Mr Webb said he was not happy with Mr Lucas's allegations and attributed them to the
company's appeal to younger travellers.
"We're an easy target, easy to attack," he said.
"We're proud of what we've achieved...
"We're a good tourism operator and we're going to keep serving these travellers safe
vans and make sure they go out of Australia with good memories."
He said he was not considering legal action over Mr Lucas's allegations and was
focusing on his customers.
"We'll just work on serving our customers well and have them tell other people that
everything's good, just work on the word of mouth."
Earlier, Transport Rachel Nolan said Wicked Campers were targeted after transport
inspectors discovered major problems with vans in Cairns.
"When they investigated in Cairns, they found such a serious rate of non-compliance
they conducted a state wide blitz," she said.
"Some of them were rusty, some with had problems with their tyres, but overall the
rate of non-compliance is very much a concern."
Mechanical faults included structural rust, defective seating, oil leaks and severe
accident damage.