A farmer in the New South Wales Riverina is $4,000 out of pocket in legal fees after the load of hay he was transporting was found to be two centimetres over-width.

The drought had forced Brendan Murphy, a farmer from Ladysmith, to supplement his income with off-farm work.

The job he took on in July last year was transporting 40 bales of oaten hay from Tarcutta in the Riverina to Murrumbateman near Canberra.

The hay had been loaded by someone else, and his task was to drive the truck and deliver it.

The financial gain for Mr Murphy from the trip was to be $230.

He was stopped by the NSW Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) at Coolac on the Hume Highway where the truck and load of hay was deemed by three RMS inspectors to be two centimetres over-width.

Hay haul halted

Mr Murphy was informed by inspectors he could not move the truck until the load was within the 2.7 metre width tolerance.

It measured 2.72 metres at inspection.

He said one of the inspectors, in particular, was not sympathetic to his cause of delivering hay to drought-affected farmers.

"He was not understanding at all. He had one thing in mind and just went straight after me and there was nothing I could do about it," he said.

Fortunately, Mr Murphy knew a farmer nearby who was able to rearrange the load, and he was able to then continue transporting the bales.

Mr Murphy said the difficulty with transporting low-quality hay was it shifted when loaded and was difficult to keep it within the parameters once travelling.

"The bales aren't that tightly packed when they are lower quality so they do move around a bit. It is hard to keep the in the right spot," he said.

A road train transports hay to farmers struggling to feed livestock in the drought. ( ABC Country Hour: Matt Brann )

Mr Murphy said it was difficult for farmers and transport operators to understand the RMS regulations for transporting hay bales.

"When you speak to the RMS most of their people can't tell you the answers you need, it's just a bit ridiculous," he said.

Case thrown out of court

A few months later, Mr Murphy found out he was facing a court appearance to do with the matter, "which was a bit of surprise".

He was charged with 'Fail to comply with dimension requirements — severe risk'.

His case was heard in Wagga Wagga Local Court last week where he pleaded guilty, with an explanation.

The fine he faced was more than $10,000.

The RMS did not have a representative at court until Mr Murphy's solicitor contacted the RMS on the day.

The case was then dismissed by Magistrate Christopher Halburd with no conviction recorded.

Solicitor Zac Tankard, who represented Mr Murphy, says complex transport regulations are difficult for transport operators to interpret. ( ABC Rural: Cara Jeffery )

However, Mr Murphy was ordered to pay the $275 prosecution fee to the RMS.

Solicitor Zac Tankard, who represented Mr Murphy, said it was a complex case.

"Brendan's case was one where it was an overload by dimension width. If you have a heavy vehicle you are allowed a certain amount of allowed width. If you have something that goes over that width you are overloaded or over width and that is an offence," Mr Tankard said.

Mr Tankard said Mr Murphy had purchased an NSW Class 3 Baled Commodities Dimension Exemption Notice from the RMS which enabled him to extend the load width from 2.5 metres to 2.7 metres.

"But how the law works is that if you are over-width of that extended notice, it defaults back to the allowed width in the first place," he said.

"In Brendan's case, the load was two centimetres over, but the law defaults back to 2.5 metres, so the law sees it that he wasn't just two centimetres over, he was 22 centimetres over.

"The interesting part about poor old Brendan's case was the law had changed in the meantime and the allowed width is now 2.83m [per the NSW Class 3 Drought Assistance Dimension Exemption Notice 2018].

"If the offence had happened a few months after it wouldn't have been a problem at all."

Sorry, this video has expired Prime Minister Morrison announces new trucking rules to ease getting feed to farms ( ABC News )

Carrying the load

Mr Tankard, a traffic law expert, said the chain of responsibility for transporting hay was also unclear.

"When the RMS are looking at laying the charge they have a number of choices to make, and the first choice is who are they going to charge," he said.

"They can charge the driver, the loader of the vehicle or the registered owner of the vehicle.

"In this case, unfortunately for Brendan, they chose the driver."

Mr Tankard said Magistrate Halburd took into consideration Mr Murphy's good record.

"That was one of the reasons that I think that the court cut Brendan a break. They could also see the circumstances of the default back in measurement and the fact that it was really only two centimetres over," Mr Tankard said.

He said Mr Murphy was working under the assumption he had done everything right.

"He had an overload sign on the front, there were flags coming out the side, so he thought he had done everything right. But he was mistaken and the information he was given was incorrect," he said.

Mr Tankard said the RMS regulations were difficult to interpret.

"If you have a system that's put in place to save lives with a focus on road safety, that should be clear for the people in the industry to understand, so you don't have to go to a lawyer to interpret for you," he said.

"It would be very hard for farmers and people in the transport industry to keep up with the latest information as it is out of date quickly.

"They almost need a lawyer on tap to say where the law is at — as of now."

Politician calls for clarification

Mr Murphy wrote to Member for Wagga Wagga Joe McGirr about his case and is still awaiting a response.

Dr McGirr responded to Mr Murphy's case when contacted by the ABC, and is now calling for regulations — particularly surrounding chain of responsibility — to be clarified.

"This is an issue that I will be writing to the relevant minister about. But I think that it is an important issue for the government to consider, it should be a priority," he said.

Member for Wagga Wagga Dr Joe McGirr is calling for clarification on the regulations for transporting hay. ( ABC Rural: Cara Jeffery )

"This goes to the issue of red tape and unnecessary regulation.

"It's tough at the moment, the drought's on and the last thing that farmers need is to try and weave through some sort of maze of laws and legalities when they are just trying to earn a living."

Mr Murphy hoped his case served as a cautionary tale to other farmers and transport operators.

"Farmers are always careful with their loads anyway, but they should just try and do the right thing and do a bit more investigating before they do head out on the road with a load of hay or machinery."

Despite the costs he had incurred from the incident, Mr Murphy is still transporting hay across the country.

"At the end of the day it comes down to supporting a family and having an income. But it does make you think twice about what you do for a living, that's for sure," he said.

"Luckily the magistrate saw the commonsense side and threw it out, whereas the RMS seems to be on a different page to everyone else," Mr Murphy said.

The RMS has been contacted for comment.