On 7 February 2008, an ATC TWR at Tamworth cleared an Eastern Australia Bombardier DHC8-300 for take off having already cleared a bird scaring vehicle onto the same runway. The vehicle was still on the runway at the time of the take off clearance and as the flight crew could see the vehicle, they did not commence take off. The vehicle driver reported having been monitoring the TWR frequency and vacated the runway. The subsequent Investigation noted a record of good competency assessments for the controller involved and found no specific explanation for his lapse.