It was announced in the press today and i quote :
Dangerous foreign truckers will face on the spot fines under sweeping changes to prevent them fleeing Britain without paying. Currently many simply tear up police tickets and head home- knowing it would cost too much to track them down…just 2 were fined last year. A new road safety bill in October will mean drivers seized after a crash or for other offences will have to instantly stump up cash or a credit card. Those who fail to pay will have their truck impounded until they can, and any who successfully challenge the fine in court will have their cash returned. British drivers already face similar systems on the continent. Last night roads minister David Jamieson told The Sun: “we are keen to clear up the unfair situation where foreign hauliers can avoid paying a penalty by leaving the country. “It is only right that foreign hauliers are treated the same as U.K. ones, particularly as U.K. drivers in Europe cannot escape penalties.” " U.K. hauliers feel strongly on this matter and i want to make these changes as soon as possible.”
truckyboy:
“It is only right that foreign hauliers are treated the same as U.K. ones, particularly as U.K. drivers in Europe cannot escape penalties.”
As I know to my cost from a couple of weeks ago. 
This is good news and lets hope when the laws do come in the police use them.
Hopefully it will come in to force and I guarantee you will see a few Big Name Foreign Hauliers fading of our motorways , some dont even send their trucks back to home, run ragged and what do they get , a slap on the wrist.
Also that should put some competition back into the industry as the foreigners wont be able to run ragged so therefore cant ■■■■■ the journey times so therefore cant ■■■■■ the rates!
The better the Industry will be if we do this and boy Im all for it having been fined a few times for nowt abroad.Last one £500 for having no APC certificate fixed to the trailer!
routier:
Hopefully it will come in to force and I guarantee you will see a few Big Name Foreign Hauliers fading of our motorways , some dont even send their trucks back to home, run ragged and what do they get , a slap on the wrist.Also that should put some competition back into the industry as the foreigners wont be able to run ragged so therefore cant ■■■■■ the journey times so therefore cant ■■■■■ the rates!
The better the Industry will be if we do this and boy Im all for it having been fined a few times for nowt abroad.Last one £500 for having no APC certificate fixed to the trailer!
It’ll never happen. Where are they going to get all the extra staff from to do this 
They’ve just stretched to way beyond their limits by sticking tacho’s in vans and they couldn’t bloody manage before that so how you expect them to cope with foreigners and all the inevitable paperwork as well I really don’t know 
.
Well it seems that something is happening…and as for the extra staff…where do you think all those retired truckers are going to work…me too…gonna join the ministry…just to book foreigners… 
but seriously…as was announced on an earlier thread…this is happening…and they must have the extra staff…if not then the present ministry when doing the normal roadside checks…will impound foreign trucks if they cannot produce a credit card or means to pay…whereas before they would be given a ticket and time to pay and then disappear from the country…
have a nice day
I hope they go for it, it’ll level the playing field up a bit, we get done over there dont we, they should get the same here.
They won’t need that many extra staff, VOSA now can do road side checks without needing the Police to pull the trucks in and in the past they have not bothered pulling Foreign trucks because of the lack of ability in getting anything to stick, so lowering thier quota’s, now they can pull foreign trucks they will, They might even have a quota of foreign trucks that they have to pull.
BIG ARTICLE THIS WEEK COMMERCIAL MOTOR 9TH JULY 04 PLEASE READ Says it all.
I packed my business in over a year ago as I couldnt make it pay (legit, othawise it wasnt worth it),. LOVE the industry, seeing my business (spent 6 yrs building it, ) folding upset me terribly, but now am soooooooooooooo glad I GOT OUT. I can name at least a dozen major hauliers from EUROPE operating here in the UK , running bent, killing our Industry right now but I wont, ANY Person from VOSA needs details PM me with your details and verification of who you are and I will answa.
I WILL FIGHT FOR MY PASSION and AM FROM THE OLD SCHOOL; THE DAYS OF THE LATE 60’S AND 70’S EARLY 80’S WHEN THE STICKERS USED TO SAY " FOLLOW ME OVER VIA DOVER" NOW ITS THE OTHA WAY ROUND, IF YOU REMEMBER TRUCKLINE, TOWNSEND THORESEN AND SEALINK then you will know wot am on about, else you have a lot to learn my friends!!!
INTERNATIONAL HAULAGE IS DYING OF DEATH, UNLESS YOU AND ME DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. 
Oi Rob, wise up fella, you nd to stand ur ground,ITS YOUR LIVELIHOOD. Report them if they are breaking the law, they do it in Germany, Holland, France, Spain Italy and Ireland. They are robbing u out of your hard EARNT cash from your own country.
Your’e knakered ova there if u fall foul of the law; count the no of Irish(read in the Commercial Motor a couple of months ago about an Irish Haulier from Roscommon who won an award for best Internationl Operator of the year. Joke, brother did a trip for him, HIS SON(18 at the time) pulled the truck of the boat in Liverpool, 18 yrs of age, gave my brother a list of solicitors in case he was pulled;
1: He was under age and should not have been driving
2: Wots the solicitor thing all about JOE ■■?
3: Ur wondering who is Joe? Fridge hauliers from Ireland will know; Ur a disgrace to the honest, hard graftin, haulier.
4: They often run illegal, I cant emphasise the word ILLEGAL enuff , VOSA, aint got a clue!!!
5:Wise up, look at the average Belgian/Dutchman/Irishman/Frenchman/Czech/Slovak/Turk/etc doin 100 Kms average per hr nxt to you, he’s hrs ahead of you by the time he tips and will probabaly pass you again on his reload and U AINT EVEN GOT YOUR DROP OF YET!!! OW CAN YOU COMPETE WITH THAT■■? IN UR OWN COUNTRY■■?
routier:
Oi Rob, wise up fella, you nd to stand ur ground,ITS YOUR LIVELIHOOD. Report them if they are breaking the law, they do it in Germany, Holland, France, Spain Italy and Ireland. They are robbing u out of your hard EARNT cash from your own country.Your’e knakered ova there if u fall foul of the law; count the no of Irish(read in the Commercial Motor a couple of months ago about an Irish Haulier from Roscommon who won an award for best Internationl Operator of the year. Joke, brother did a trip for him, HIS SON(18 at the time) pulled the truck of the boat in Liverpool, 18 yrs of age, gave my brother a list of solicitors in case he was pulled;
1: He was under age and should not have been driving
2: Wots the solicitor thing all about JOE ■■?
3: Ur wondering who is Joe? Fridge hauliers from Ireland will know; Ur a disgrace to the honest, hard graftin, haulier.
4: They often run illegal, I cant emphasise the word ILLEGAL enuff , VOSA, aint got a clue!!!
5:Wise up, look at the average Belgian/Dutchman/Irishman/Frenchman/Czech/Slovak/Turk/etc doin 100 Kms average per hr nxt to you, he’s hrs ahead of you by the time he tips and will probabaly pass you again on his reload and U AINT EVEN GOT YOUR DROP OF YET!!! OW CAN YOU COMPETE WITH THAT■■? IN UR OWN COUNTRY■■?
Calm down dear .
It’ll never happen. They might have the power now to stop them etc but first excuse to let them go will be the language barrier and even if they get past that it will be “well you’re 3 tonne overweight, you know, you’re not allowed to do that in the UK, so next time remember that please. On your way sir…”. I bet you 
. It certainly won’t be the “works” like Neil got. “Yes, sir, we clocked you 8kmh over the speed limit, £150 fine immediately or we take your truck til you pay up”. That’s what it needs and that’s why it’ll never happen. In a decade’s time we’ll be the ethnic minorities of this country and if you want a class 1 job expect the same hours but for £200 take home less. Owner drivers will be running benter than a banana and the only companies left doing haulage work will be the Trolley companies and big logisitics folks. The supermarkets will run the haulage in this country eventually
Just 4 the record, I AINT PREJUDICE, I AM IN FACT IRISH DESCENT.
Rob,
I couldnt agree with ya more, except for the lack of understanding of the language barrier. ENGLISH is the 3rd if not 2nd most spoken language in the world, (mandarin, chinese ) being no 1. IF the POLICE DO THAT, THEN ITS A KOP OUT. Ow many times have u bin abroad and bin multi lingual ? Do u speak French, German, Italian or Spanish ? Maybe a bit of each, but wen they (the police) reply " Je ne parle pas anglais", Il faut que tu me paies or suivez-moi monsieur or NO entiendo lo que tu dice, hay que me paga" or lines to that effect you know u aint goin anywhere, here its just a joke, its costin U GUYS A FORTUNE, IT CANNOT CONTINUE, SORRY, BUT IT CANT.You guys are losing out, they run bent,so therefore they can do the job cheaper than u so therefore u lose, they survive and continue trading. Meanwhile you have the bank breathing down your kneck, you may have lost your house, you may have split from the Missus, UR WHOLE LIFE IS RUINED!!!
routier,i have no reason do to disagree with your valid points,but just one for you.if you know of so many big hauliers running bent,then instead of waiting for a member of vosa to contact you via this forum,why don’t you contact them and tell them what you know and i suppose you have good honest proof of this that you can supply them with it. 
Rob your cynism is understandable, but this on the spot fines stuff comes from government, who were told by the Head of VOSA about the extent of the problems of Foreign truck running bent in the UK and the reasons why nothing was done.
Therefore the Government will set targets of the amount of Foreign trucks the must be stopped and prosecuted and VOSA must reach these targets, so the chances of them letting a driver off with a warning are minimal, as for the language barrier they do have multilingual officers and many driver do speak a bit of English even though they are likely not to during the check.
Now all we need is for Foreign trucks to pay to use UK roads and we might be on the way of getting near a level playing field. Well at least move the angle from 90 to about 45 degrees and we’ll still be playing up hill, can’t wait ‘till half time. 
The answer is simple do in theUK what the other countries do.
Payment of instant fines or the vehicle stays there until it is paid simple, effective and it works and I don´t suppose that it will lead to any more corruption within the UK than there is in other countries.
Vascoingles:
The answer is simple do in theUK what the other countries do.
Payment of instant fines or the vehicle stays there until it is paid simple, effective and it works and I don´t suppose that it will lead to any more corruption within the UK than there is in other countries.
a simple control ticket as you get in most countries would do away with this corruption, if i remember right there is actually a law that the police can give fixed fines and be capable of taking money of foriegn trucks for offences ?
I am in total agreement that it is time that something was done; that we treated foreign truckers here as we are treated there.
I have one question; Where will these impounded vehicles be parked while the foreign driver sorts out his fine? DoT can’t even provide sufficient parking for UK trucks.
ps. Second question; Will the fines levied here reflect the level of fines charged on Continent■■? 
dwjinuk:
I am in total agreement that it is time that something was done; that we treated foreign truckers here as we are treated there.
I have one question; Where will these impounded vehicles be parked while the foreign driver sorts out his fine? DoT can’t even provide sufficient parking for UK trucks.
ps. Second question; Will the fines levied here reflect the level of fines charged on Continent■■?
i hope so , i was stopped at St Omer the other week at 43t and it only cost 90e to be on my way !!!