Damn those Polizei!

[kw]

Monday afternoon and I was on my way to Berlin,a regular run for us with a full load of fruit juice there,reload empties and back the next day.
Passing Brandenburg on the A2 and I notice a police van pulling out from a parking area,no worries,I am perfectly legal and driving around 85kph and I mentally check the distance between me and the truck in front,as he passes a marker on the side of the road I pass the one before it,so 50m between us.

Police drive alongside me for over 1,5km and then pull in front,so I ease back to maintain the 50m distance.
On comes the ‘Bitte Folgen’ light and he takes me off the next exit.
On arriving at a tank station one of them asks for my documents,whilst the other one takes a photo of the front of the truck,why,I don’t know?
They’ve already started writing the ticket out before they’ve even told me what I’ve done wrong,so I ask them.
“You were following too close to the vehicle in front”
No I wasn’t!
“You were too close”!
No I wasn’t,I was watching the marker posts on the side of the road and I was 50m behind.
“You were 24m”
What? That’s crazy,that’s half of what I actually was!
“24m,you must pay 105 euros”
But I only have 95 euros on me.
“That will do,sign here.And it is forbidden in Germany to drive with open backed shoes”
(I drive in carpet slippers)
“You can go”

So what was I supposed to do? If i’d have stood there arguing until I was blue in the face,they would have found something else to nick me for or arrested me.It was their word against mine,two against one.

So I was left skint until I could get to a cash machine,though I did get the money back from the boss when I got back.

Thinking about the photo,I have yellow fog lights which were on at the time (it was ■■■■■■■ down,and yes I am one of those scumbags who use front fogs during the day,yes I know,I should be strung up ).
Anyway,I have heard talk of not only the German police,but also the dutch police fining drivers for having coloured lights on the front of the truck.Now obviously red lights are a no no,but what about amber,green or blue?
I have some amber lights on the grille,and some yellow Swedish lights in the bumper,but,I do have white sidelights and top marker lights.
As far as I am aware,as long as you have white lights at the front,any extra coloured lights are no problem,except of course red ones.
Any thoughts?

[buzzardboy]

Kieth, cant comment on the bulk of your post, but as for the Open Backed Shoes, another driver i know recently got done in Spain for driving in similar footwear… They were gonna fine him 100 Euro’s, but he talked them round with a few T-Shirts(Motorsport Team)

[rob_k]

Maybe the German Polizei also hate drivers driving with fog lights on in non-foggy conditions…

[switchlogic]

Another reason to avoid driving in that bloody ■■■■■■■■ of a country. To be clear it’s a nice country but an absolute nightmare to drive a truck in in my opinion

[brit_pete]

Keith as regards the fine for the shoes it is a law enforceable offence
comes under health and safety and has been enforced for years ,
just get slippers with enclosed heels as
for the offence regarding distance between vehicles if you are alone
then the two police officers will win every time, sorry mate did they give
you a bill for the fine that you were given

[inselaffe]

Tailgating on the A2 is a very hot potato with the cops at the moment due to an ongoing series of horrific accidents. Morons driving within a gnat’s crochet of the vehicle in front whilst on the limiter and perusing yesterday’s Danzig Times (other eastern European publications are available) are a main cause of this carnage.

As you say, using the marker posts is a simple method of maintaing a 50m gap to the vehicle in front, which is perfectly adequate at 85kph and satisfies the rule of thumb:“Abstand gleich halber Tacho” (separation equals half vehicle speed).

In this case, I would be intrigued to know how Brandenburg’s finest could calculate your distance to the vehicle in front to be 24m, which appears to be a totally arbitrary figure. Did they offer to show you any video evidence to back this up?

It appears to me that you had the misfortune of running into a couple of ex/wannabe Stasi types who yearn for the good old days when Erich was head honcho and like nothing better than sticking it to the proletariat.

On the footwear thing, they don’t like shoes, sandals, etc without a heel strap, as Pete has already alluded to. Apparently, they can easily come adrift from your foot shaped appendage and will then be loose in the cab to produce all kinds of mayhem. Or something.

White and yellow lights are allowed on the front of the vehicle. Other coloured marker lights (except red) are not exactly legal but are tolerated and they would be really scraping the barrel if they tried to do you for that.

[dieseldave]

Inselaffe:
It appears to me that you had the misfortune of running into a couple of ex/wannabe Stasi types who yearn for the good old days when Erich was head honcho and like nothing better than sticking it to the proletariat.

Hi Inselaffe,

When I read the OP, it reminded me of getting busted on trumped-up nonsense by the Volkspolizei in the old DDR.
At least this lot wouldn’t have been driving a Lada. When I got done in the DDR, I couldn’t live it down… just fancy being busted by cops in a Lada. I mean, the shame of it!!
I reckon it was a couple of ex-VoPo goons who got KW, and that he was unfortunate.

Agreed about the footwear thing though, cos that’s been that way in Germany for as long as I can remember (early 80s.)
The furry clog brigade were easily captured in the services by sharp-eyed cops and it was an easy ticket for them to dish out.

[inselaffe]

dieseldave:
The furry clog brigade were easily captured in the services by sharp-eyed cops and it was an easy ticket for them to dish out.

Cue Coffeeholic to ask if they were lured with a saucer of milk

[hitch]

now i know why lachens come with a
fold away strap
and steel toe caps