In the end of the 1990`s,the EU stopped trucks returning home on a Sunday driving ban,depending where the truck was based,so you could have trucks running South and North,so a Portuguese haulier could drive through France,or a German or Dutch and Uk truck could go North on Sunday.What were the reasons for stopping this.Used to get annoyed looks from drivers stuck,as you sailed by,because of the country of residence of your number plate.Anyone remember driving while this was in force,im guessing some EU ruling on un fair competion.
I used to regularly run back through France on a sunday. I believe that striking French drivers forced the legislation in but that it was a French government decision, rather than an eu decision.
Don’t asl me the year but at some stage the French asked the Germans to change their driving ban reasoning that as France allowed Germans to drive homeward at the weekend then the Germans should do the same.
Germany as you can imagine got on their high horse and said no.
This upset our gallic neighbours and they then turned round and changed their ban so that no one drove home.
Thank You Germany
Hi toby1234abc , I think you’ll find that it was a ‘French’ thing, rather than an ‘EU’ thing, but I clearly remember running homeward on a Sunday in France. IIRC, no other country that had a Sunday ban would allow this, but the French clearly did. Like Vasco, I’m unable to say when this changed…
Mind you, there was a period when I could run in either direction in France on a Sunday, and I wasn’t driving a 'fridge.
That was at the time I drove an Italian truck. You see, if I was heading South, they didn’t bother stopping me, cos the truck was genuinely Italian with very small front number plate and the white ‘conto terzi’ stripes on the bumpers. I did used to get a pull heading North in the same truck though. That’s when I produced my UK passport and driving licence, so I was ‘heading home.’ 
I’m not sure how legal it was, and I was pulled plenty of times, but I was never fined or parked up for running on a Sunday in France in that truck. 
There was or maybe still is a ban on trucks in Holland on a Sunday, but it is rarely enforced and only applies to national transport. There are several exemptions like fuel delivery and milk tankers.
I learned this when we used to run between Moerdijk, Meer and Rotterdam & was stopped by a Dutch Policeman. I got off scot free but he told me why he had stopped me.
Wheel Nut:
There was or maybe still is a ban on trucks in Holland on a Sunday, but it is rarely enforced and only applies to national transport. There are several exemptions like fuel delivery and milk tankers.I learned this when we used to run between Moerdijk, Meer and Rotterdam & was stopped by a Dutch Policeman. I got off scot free but he told me why he had stopped me.
The ban still exists but is never enforced
Vascoingles:
Wheel Nut:
There was or maybe still is a ban on trucks in Holland on a Sunday, but it is rarely enforced and only applies to national transport. There are several exemptions like fuel delivery and milk tankers.I learned this when we used to run between Moerdijk, Meer and Rotterdam & was stopped by a Dutch Policeman. I got off scot free but he told me why he had stopped me.
The ban still exists but is never enforced
You learn something every day. 
Simon:
Agreed Simon, I didn’t know that either. 
Mind you, Vasco knows his stuff, so I wouldn’t doubt it for a moment.
Wasnt there an Irish company that ran on sundays,with a trailer fleet bought specificaly,to be fitted with fridge trailers,even though coming back with groupage,and the the fridge motor running on a low thermostat setting,thus sailing past the Douanes and Gendarmes.Would like to be around to see how much the fine was.Maybe get parked up until 22.00 Sunday night,or get the truck papers back the next morning.
toby1234abc:
Wasnt there an Irish company that ran on sundays,with a trailer fleet bought specificaly,to be fitted with fridge trailers,even though coming back with groupage,and the the fridge motor running on a low thermostat setting,thus sailing past the Douanes and Gendarmes.Would like to be around to see how much the fine was.Maybe get parked up until 22.00 Sunday night,or get the truck papers back the next morning.
Hi Toby, I’m getting a whiff of drivers’ urban myth now…
IIRC, it’s not that the freight is being carried in a 'fridge, the problem comes if the freight isn’t actually perishable.
A firm I used to work for used 'fridges on the Italian peaches job each year, but that job (mostly) had an outward empty leg, the backload from Italy being the good payer. We used to carry laboratory samples of lube oil for Shell, (a few deliveries in France on the way out) so being at the first drop handy on a Monday morning was helpful, but one of our drivers was captured having attempted to run on the Sunday in Dunkerque because the oil wasn’t actually perishable. ( 
No names mentioned )
Just cos it’s in a 'fridge doesn’t necessarly mean that it’s perishable, but I used to rely on their laziness…
dieseldave:
he Sunday in Dunkerque because the oil wasn’t actually perishable. (Just cos it’s in a 'fridge doesn’t necessarly mean that it’s perishable, but I used to rely on their laziness…
didn´t we all 