diff --git a/dev/BulkLoader.php b/dev/BulkLoader.php
index 6b581ac23..18a7e954a 100644
--- a/dev/BulkLoader.php
+++ b/dev/BulkLoader.php
@@ -124,15 +124,24 @@ abstract class BulkLoader extends ViewableData {
 	}
 	
 	/*
-	 * Load the given file via {@link self::processAll()} and {@link self::processRecord()}.
+	 * Load the given file via {@link self::processAll()} and {@link self::processRecord()}. Optionally truncates (clear) the table before it imports. 
 	 *  
 	 * @return BulkLoader_Result See {@link self::processAll()}
 	 */
-	public function load($filepath, $memory_limit='512M') {
+	public function load($filepath, $memory_limit='512M', $clear_table_before_import=false) {
 		ini_set('max_execution_time', 3600);
 		
 		increase_memory_limit_to($memory_limit);
 		
+		if ($clear_table_before_import) { 
+			$objectSet = DataObject::get($this->objectClass);       //get all instances of the to be imported data object 
+			if (!empty($objectSet)) { 
+				foreach($objectSet as $obj) { 
+					$obj->delete(); //deleting objects ensures that versions are also deleted (truncating would just delete the main table); performance is slower, however 
+				} 
+			} 
+		} 
+		
 		return $this->processAll($filepath);
 	}
 	
diff --git a/tests/dev/CsvBulkLoaderTest.php b/tests/dev/CsvBulkLoaderTest.php
index d5c70350d..af0d506f7 100644
--- a/tests/dev/CsvBulkLoaderTest.php
+++ b/tests/dev/CsvBulkLoaderTest.php
@@ -31,6 +31,21 @@ class CsvBulkLoaderTest extends SapphireTest {
 		
 		fclose($file);
 	}
+	
+	/** 
+	 * Test plain import with clear_table_before_import  
+ 	 */ 
+	function testClearTableBeforeImport() { 
+		$loader = new CsvBulkLoader('CsvBulkLoaderTest_Player'); 
+		$filepath = Director::baseFolder() . '/sapphire/tests/dev/CsvBulkLoaderTest_PlayersWithHeader.csv'; 
+		$results1 = $loader->load($filepath, '512MB', false);   //leave existing data there on first CSV import 
+		$this->assertEquals(4, $results1->Count(), 'Test correct count of imported data on first load'); 
+
+		$results2 = $loader->load($filepath, '512MB', true);    //delete existing data before doing second CSV import 
+		$resultDataObject = DataObject::get('CsvBulkLoaderTest_Player');        //get all instances of the loaded DataObject from the database and count them 
+
+		$this->assertEquals(4, $resultDataObject->Count(), 'Test if existing data is deleted before new data is added'); 
+ 	}
 
 	/**
 	 * Test import with manual column mapping