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Frank Allen: Traffic controller reveals horrifying details of attack on motorist that left him with crippling PTSD
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A traffic controller with almost a decade of experience claims he was cruelly fired by his boss after an on-site incident left him suffering from crippling PTSD.
Frank Allen, 63, was directing traffic around a truck delivering power poles in Landsdale, north of Perth, when a driver knocked him to the ground and allegedly threatened him with a box cutter on March 29.
Advanced Traffic Management (ATM) employee claims he raised his “slow” sign at the 34-year-old driver of a Ford Ranger SUV who accelerated and nearly hit the traffic controller before swerving at the last second.
Angry but unhurt, Mr Allen assumed the ordeal was over before the ute driver suddenly reappeared and pushed him to the ground.
“I noticed he had a penknife, you know like a Stanley knife, in his hand and he was threatening: I’m going to kill you, I’m going to cut you, you old bastard,” he said. 7News.
“He screams and screams, I have blood running down my face.”
Frank Allen, a Perth traffic controller with almost a decade of experience, claims he was cruelly sacked by his boss after an incident there left him with crippling PTSD.
Mr Allen said he managed to hit his alleged attacker with his slow sign before one of his colleagues convinced the man to leave and called an ambulance.
Although he avoided serious injury, Mr Allen said the ordeal had “really messed him up”.
He now feels more nervous in public and fears arguments could escalate in the same way as the alleged incident with the UTE driver.
The traffic controller says his PTSD also put a strain on his marriage.
After the incident, Mr. Allen requested a week’s leave, but according to him, he received no workers’ compensation and spent the week without pay.
“Trying to get help from businesses is a nightmare,” he said.
Ultimately, Mr. Allen received compensation and after four months, he returned to work and reported his experience to ATM’s human resources department.
Mr Allen told HR there was not enough support available, which he said only made the situation worse.
“(The human resources manager) went to tell the general manager, and (the general manager) came out and called me into his office and started getting mad at me,” he said.
The traffic controller said that due to his PTSD symptoms, he lost his temper and told his boss to “stay where the sun doesn’t shine”, thereby losing his job.
He says the March incident is not the only time he has been mistreated at work.
Although he avoided serious injury, Mr Allen said the ordeal had ‘really messed him up’ (stock)
The traffic controller was allegedly hit by a car while at work a few years ago and never received advice from his employer, despite asking for help.
Mr Allen now works for another company in the traffic control sector, but has been forced to take a pay cut from what he previously earned at ATM.
A week after her dismissal, ATM abruptly went into liquidation with more than $10 million. The company’s 400 employees were fired by SMS.
A 34-year-old man was charged with common assault with aggravated circumstances or racial aggravation and being armed in such a way as to cause fear.
The Parkwood man, originally from Perth’s south-east, has appeared in court four times in relation to the alleged March attack, but is yet to enter a plea.
He will next appear in Joondalup Magistrates Court on September 18.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Construction, Forestry, Marine, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) for comment regarding Mr Allen’s experience.