FRUSTRATED truck drivers, fighting for their livelihoods, are showing their anger towards working conditions and soaring diesel prices near one of the industry’s major transport routes.On the first day of a two-week trucking shutdown, angry drivers gathered at Gundagai yesterday, turning their engines off and parking their trucks at Coolac on the Hume Highway.The protest began at 6pm last night, former driver and director of Wagga trucking company Simmo’s Express Freight, Lynsley Simmonds said.“It was decided that all trucks would park on the side of the road at Coolac … it will be a quiet, friendly campaign,” Mr Simmonds said.“We are looking for support from people in the transport industry ... even if they just pull their trucks up, stop and acknowledge what is going on.”Mr Simmonds said drivers are pleading for a fair go and are desperately seeking a meeting with Federal transport minister, Anthony Albanese.“Things just haven’t kept pace with the industry … most (drivers) are virtually bankrupt and the way things are going they will soon be bankrupt and be gone,” Mr Simmonds said.“I’ve been 49 years in the (transport) industry and this is the worst I have ever seen it. We want a decent, sustainable freight rate that is linked to the CPI, chain of responsibility and duty of care.”Meanwhile, the impact of the truck strike in Wagga remains unclear.While major supermarkets across the country begin to stockpile fruit and vegetables, many grocers in Wagga are yet to follow suit.“No, we definitely haven’t done any stockpiling,” said Kincaid Heritage Fruit Market partner-manager Annette Calvi.“We have heard so many different stories about the strike so we will wait until tomorrow (today) when we get our delivery from Melbourne to see if we need to do anything.”Mrs Calvi said if the strike does affect deliveries they would consider running a van to Melbourne.A Woolworths spokesperson reassured shoppers the Wagga stores did not anticipate running out of food items during the strike so there was no need for panic buying.