extrucker:
I moved on an English truck with an Eastern European driver who was parked under J20 M25, half on footpath and half on the road. He was having a daily rest break. I hope VOSA fine him.
Drivers blocking the hard shoulder due to congestion really annoy me. They are blocking the only available route for emergency vehicles or even recovery trucks trying to get to the scene to clear and re-open the motorway. The law allows you to go to nearest place of safety. The hard shoulder is not that. It amazes me that so called professional drivers do not know this??
Unfortunately foreign enforcement is not so flexible. If you are over your hrs you are nicked in some countries. You can write what you like on the card/printout it won’t make any difference. In fact it can backfire when they say ok you can pay a deposit ( normally in the thousands ) and argue your case in court later.
So yeh drivers will stop on hard shoulder & take a bollocking rather than shell out their hard earned over the channel.
Annoys me when so called professional hato’s don’t understand this.
Deepinvet:
Good on them I say…might encourage local authorities to open more Truck parks…
Good point, unfortunetely I doubt it’ll happen because everybody is quick to judge and condemn the truck driver who faces huge fines for silly trivial tacho offences and doesn’t actually ask why they’re parked there in the first place. Yes its a stupid and unsafe place to park but I doubt even these so called eastern european idiots would be parked there if they actually had an alternative. I really pity any foreign driver who’s not very familiar with the UK arriving in Dover and running out of time before they’re well beyond London as there is absolutely nothing after 6pm that doesn’t cost half a weeks wages.
The issue here is the complete absense of parking opertunities and the fear of prosecution of not stopping. I doubt most on here moaning about these guys ever actually face the same problems. Carrying on 20 minutes down the road and writing on the back of your card or on a print out might satisfy Vosa but it may not do so in any number of other EU countries, which is where they operate and most on here do not. They are not living by the same rules and fearing the same consequences as a UK only driver and even many British companies dont pay for extorionate over night parking, so I doubt your average Pole, Bulgarian or Turk is going to. A driver parking on a slip road or under a motorway bridge isn’t the problem, its merely the by-product of the bigger issue.
robinhood_1984:
Deepinvet:
Good on them I say…might encourage local authorities to open more Truck parks…Good point, unfortunetely I doubt it’ll happen because everybody is quick to judge and condemn the truck driver who faces huge fines for silly trivial tacho offences and doesn’t actually ask why they’re parked there in the first place. Yes its a stupid and unsafe place to park but I doubt even these so called eastern european idiots would be parked there if they actually had an alternative. I really pity any foreign driver who’s not very familiar with the UK arriving in Dover and running out of time before they’re well beyond London as there is absolutely nothing after 6pm that doesn’t cost half a weeks wages.
The issue here is the complete absense of parking opertunities and the fear of prosecution of not stopping. I doubt most on here moaning about these guys ever actually face the same problems. Carrying on 20 minutes down the road and writing on the back of your card or on a print out might satisfy Vosa but it may not do so in any number of other EU countries, which is where they operate and most on here do not. They are not living by the same rules and fearing the same consequences as a UK only driver and even many British companies dont pay for extorionate over night parking, so I doubt your average Pole, Bulgarian or Turk is going to. A driver parking on a slip road or under a motorway bridge isn’t the problem, its merely the by-product of the bigger issue.
Well said.
Winseer:
If we can have “crackdowns” on putting in for meal allowances, then why not a crackdown on claiminhg the night out allowance ( tax free) when you’ve not PAID to park up at a proper location?Dodge the fee, don’t claim the allowance.
Eurodrivers over here must be on some good incentives for their nights out, whilst at the same time wanting to play the “no speake english and no money no problem” cards all the time when challenged.Let’s see how many take the ■■■■ once there’s no money in it.
As it stands, it’s only a matter of time until they start syphoning fuel as well.
Once and for all A Nightout Allowance is to pay for the driver’s needs, i.e. food, bed and laundry. It is NOT for parking the vehicle which is the OWNERS problem. In all my years tramping in both UK and Europe nightout allowance was mine. Parking, road or bridge tolls and other vehicle related costs were claimed with receipts on expenses.
If the owner won’t pay for parking it don’t get parked in paid spots.
turnip:
extrucker:
I moved on an English truck with an Eastern European driver who was parked under J20 M25, half on footpath and half on the road. He was having a daily rest break. I hope VOSA fine him.
Drivers blocking the hard shoulder due to congestion really annoy me. They are blocking the only available route for emergency vehicles or even recovery trucks trying to get to the scene to clear and re-open the motorway. The law allows you to go to nearest place of safety. The hard shoulder is not that. It amazes me that so called professional drivers do not know this??Unfortunately foreign enforcement is not so flexible. If you are over your hrs you are nicked in some countries. You can write what you like on the card/printout it won’t make any difference. In fact it can backfire when they say ok you can pay a deposit ( normally in the thousands ) and argue your case in court later.
So yeh drivers will stop on hard shoulder & take a bollocking rather than shell out their hard earned over the channel.
Annoys me when so called professional hato’s don’t understand this.
Absolutely correct.
What you self righteous british “never been further than dover” drivers do not and probably never will understand is that the rules south of the English Channel are interepreted somewhat differently to the way they are in your country.
If I exceed my driving time by a single minute and am controlled in another european country other than the UK I am going to end up paying a fine which will be eye wateringly expensive - start ariound about 1500 euros and work upwards… That fine will have to be paid at the side of the road there and then otherwise you dont move.
It matters not one jot that some ■■■■■■ from your highways agency, police force or WRVS has closed off a major road for hours on end for the most trivial of reasons, nor does it matter how many printouts, prayers or other paper you may have scribbled on - you are gonna pay. And pay heavily.
Not one of us “foreigners” enjoys parking on the side of your skanky motorways, but you better beleive it we will continue doing so until you stop causing so many bloody pointless hold ups and preventing us getting to where we want to be or had reasonably planned to be.
Hombre:
turnip:
extrucker:
I moved on an English truck with an Eastern European driver who was parked under J20 M25, half on footpath and half on the road. He was having a daily rest break. I hope VOSA fine him.
Drivers blocking the hard shoulder due to congestion really annoy me. They are blocking the only available route for emergency vehicles or even recovery trucks trying to get to the scene to clear and re-open the motorway. The law allows you to go to nearest place of safety. The hard shoulder is not that. It amazes me that so called professional drivers do not know this??Unfortunately foreign enforcement is not so flexible. If you are over your hrs you are nicked in some countries. You can write what you like on the card/printout it won’t make any difference. In fact it can backfire when they say ok you can pay a deposit ( normally in the thousands ) and argue your case in court later.
So yeh drivers will stop on hard shoulder & take a bollocking rather than shell out their hard earned over the channel.
Annoys me when so called professional hato’s don’t understand this.
Absolutely correct.
What you self righteous british “never been further than dover” drivers do not and probably never will understand is that the rules south of the English Channel are interepreted somewhat differently to the way they are in your country.
If I exceed my driving time by a single minute and am controlled in another european country other than the UK I am going to end up paying a fine which will be eye wateringly expensive - start ariound about 1500 euros and work upwards… That fine will have to be paid at the side of the road there and then otherwise you dont move.It matters not one jot that some ■■■■■■ from your highways agency, police force or WRVS has closed off a major road for hours on end for the most trivial of reasons, nor does it matter how many printouts, prayers or other paper you may have scribbled on - you are gonna pay. And pay heavily.
Not one of us “foreigners” enjoys parking on the side of your skanky motorways, but you better beleive it we will continue doing so until you stop causing so many bloody pointless hold ups and preventing us getting to where we want to be or had reasonably planned to be.
yes.UK penalty very small,it is good for drivers.Uk VOSA AND POLICE VERY"SOFT"AS well good for drivers
Terry T:
There’s a refuge area between J1 and J2 on the M6 and I used to go past it every day to work and back. At least twice a week there’d be foreign trucks in there “Ahem, broke down”.Maybe it’s a Bermuda Triangle type site where trucks mysteriously develop problems.
That always looks to me as if they put the startings of a junction in but never finished it.
Hombre, you have a choice. DO NOT COME HERE !!
extrucker:
Hombre, you have a choice. DO NOT COME HERE !!
You’ve just made yourself look like a complete idiot with that comment. He’s not driving a camper van where he chooses where to holiday. He and every driver has to go where they’re sent by their company and unlike most British drivers who never leave the country and have to worry about the laws and consequences of breaking the law in other European countries, he does. Hombre isn’t the problem, no foreign truck is the problem, the problem is the chronic lack of parking available for trucks, especially in the south. A truck isn’t a crisp packet you can fold up and put in your pocket at the end of the day, its a huge physical object that must be parked somewhere, if there is nowhere to actually park, then where does it go■■? Oh yeah, just dont come in the first place then, what a stupid thing to say. Many British trucks struggle to find anywhere to park, what should they do, resign from their jobs and sit at home unemployed because provision for overnight parking isn’t provided in nearly the volume of which its required and it annoys people like you that desperate people fearing the legal reprocussions of not parking up, can’t park and feel they are forced in to a dangerous situation such as parking on the hard shoulder.
As an experienced continental driver, I knew what happened if I committed an offence whilst driving abroad. What annoys me, is that the majority of Eastern European drivers do not even try to find a suitable parking place, but just park where they want. Not just hard shoulders but roundabouts, footpaths in towns, anywhere. As you say, British trucks struggle to find somewhere to park but I have never seen a British truck trying to take a daily rest break on a hard shoulder, unless driven by a foreigner. Every driver does have a choice to come here or not, he can work for a company that does not do UK work. Simples. Just like if I didn’t want to do continental work, I could stay in UK. I will, and often have done, assist any driver, British or foreign, if they need assistance but will not assist anyone who can’t work out where their day is going to end and find a suitable place to park up and have no fear of breaking UK law but get worried about being fined in Europe. Thousands of UK drivers, a few of them mates of mine, manage it every day.
As for inadequate parking facilities, yes I fully agree, there are few too many locations but would you prefer I let all trucks that want to block the hard shoulder let them stay there for eleven hours??
When you, or someone you know, needs an Ambulance or Fire Rescue Unit to save life, but can’t get through because the hard shoulder is blocked by foreign lorries taking daily rest breaks, then let me know what your opinion is then.
Now there are numbers of lorries parking on exit slips & hard shoulders on M20 due stuck all day queue for trains & ferries so they have no choice to park at moment but they just try their best to park as together with other lorries make more safe than own
Hard shoulders are disappearing anyhow. The government is turning them all into 4 th lanes. Which no one seems to know how to use.
A lorry driver taking a nap on a motorway hard shoulder refused to move his vehicle - so emergency services could reach a burning car this morning.
