quelle-sitten(AFP) The swiss police in the kanton (county) of Wallis,stopped
a german lorrydriver,and found that he had driven three-days with out a
rest.the swiss-law is a 11hour break must be taken after your driveing period-work time is ended, The driver in question had been on the road since Monday until stopped in a control from the police on wenseday-after–
noon, in this period of time he had only slept for one period of time and this was 4.5hours only,When questioned he answered by saying that he was put under pressure from his employer,the driver in question also had his 6 year old son with him in the lorry.The swiss police placed a non-movement oder on the lorry for 24hours to ensure that the driver was
completely rested,furthermore he had to leave a caution fine of 1000euros
this is about 650pounds and on Mondaythe28th march the driver and his
employer must report to the court in WALLIS where they willed be judged on this offence,
I do not wish to make light of this offence but it is the norm by at least
95% of the german firms and the pressure of the bosses is so strong
that many of the drivers do this every day or the drivers have no knowledge of the tacho rules ( YES we have people whose command
of the german language is little or non existence, also the fines on the
firms in germany is such a minimal sum.
Wheelnut they all ways say the truth hurts,and i will stand by my statement
as they sytem here is not as good controlled as in GB and the fines etc etc are not hard enough, I mentioned about the firm where the boss got time in prison on a german trucknet and the majority were against the
jail sentence, which got me rather annoyed as on one hand the cry that they have to work too hard for the wages but then say no its wrong to put the bosses in jail and close the firm what a bunch of plebs
petes right about the fines in Germany, pulled in by the BAG on a tuesday he asked for my tacho for sunday and monday looked at the tacho from Monday and said you drove yesterday for 5hrs and 6mins before your first brake, i said “i know” he said “you are admitting it then " i said “yep” he said " ok that costs 15Euro” i paid and drove away with a on my face
Interesting report, shocked by the 95% figure, I always imagined the Germans to be very regulated and go by the rules. Obviously shouldn’t believe these steroetypical ideas.
I have lived and worked in Germany for UK and German companies.
Obviously things have slipped badly in the last 5 years if this is happening.
Because I was always on ADR / GGVS work, maybe I got stopped more than the rest, but it was quite normal to have 2 or 3 BAG controls a week. Especially around the gates to chemical plants.
If I was running a little bit iffy, I would breathe a sigh of relief at Aachen or Heerlen
german Police and BAG are very understanding of the compation we have here with the East Block Firms, driving a German platted truck in Germany is like having a “Get out of Jail Free Card” i would never dream of driving 4hrs 31mins in France,or faster than 84kph in Denmark i dont earn that much to pay for them fines
All this has come as a complete shock to me. It is many years since I drove in Germany, but then it was well known, if you do anything wrong, you don’t do it in Germany.
We always used to like the country because you knew where you stood If you broke the law, you got done. In Italy you paid a bribe. France was the worst because you never quite knew if a bribe would get you through - or straight to gaol. Nearly happened to me at Calais. I was stopped from boarding because my permits were micky and after being told to wait in the cab a guard came to me and stood just looking. I assumed that he had got me on my own for the bung. When I opened my wallet he went berserk and I was lucky to be allowed on the boat without the truck. Micky White had to jump in his Bentley and bring another driver over to bring it back while he paid a very big fine.
dont know what permits you have in the UK but in Gemany we have an “EU Lizenz” issued from the traffic authorties an originel and a copy both look the same,the originel has to be in the truck
Running up from Paris to Metz came up to a "Peage"stuck my card in, barrier went up and a French Copper jumped from behind the booth shouting “Parking” OK i thouht “im clean”(the only thing dirty by me in France is the Windscreen)and of f i went to park up next to another German Truck
Police came over checked all the papers and tachos and gave them me back with a “bon Voyage”
Got talking to the german driver and he had been stuck there since 5pm the night befoe,he had been checked and had only the copy of his “EU Lizenz” with him,the French Police had banged him 750Euros which he didnt have either,the police had took him to a cash point the night before but he had a limit of 400Euros per day on his card and he was waiting until 9am until the police came to pick up the rest,
16hours lost ,750euro poorer ,very expensive piece of paper
BAG and German Police go 90% for
Haz Goods
Maut
Load Security
Road Worthy(East Block)
White Transits doing 160kmh on the motorway with 1 Pallet in the back
gbtansp , the permits that spardo means arethe ones we used to have
when transiting -or delivering in that country and because the permits
were limited a lot of firms printed there own, also spardo forgot to mention
the coffee money for haveing too much fuel in the tank.the limit was 200
liters max and this was for all border crossings so bakessh was the for
that time the norm. MY dispo (T-M) sent me to france with a out of date permit and what did the french do,they stamped it and then fined me
800german -marks as idid not have the cash my Dispo ™ sent a driver in a car all the way to mullhausen near basel from Dortmund.
such was life,
gptansp, we have the same permit you are talking about these days, European Community Authorisation. You get one original and a Certified Copy for each vehicle on your O Licence. The original must stay in the office and the copy kept in the vehicle, not a photo copy but the proper certified copy. If the French catch you with the original on board it is big fine time.
I haven’t been pulled by the BAG recently but I have been on numerous occasions in the past and have always found them to be polite and efficient, never been fined so can’t comment on the size of the fines although one of they guys I work with was done €10:00 a couple of weeks ago for mistakenly using a Ãœ instead of a U in his registration number on his MAUT ticket. He was stopped in one control and they accepted it was a mistake and just warned him however a couple of hours later he was stopped in another control and they fined him.
You only have to see all the trouble Nikolaus Hammerer have been in recently to see how bad it’s getting in Germany.
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is that in Germany the Germans drive at 85kph,but as soon as they leave the country they all drive as if Michael Schumacher is trying to beat them into first place.
And it’s not just Germany.
In Belgium it’s even worse,which seeing as this is where all the EU laws and regulations originate from is quite suprising.
The Belgian police and ministry are always on the lookout for foreign drivers, to relieve them of as much cash as possible (you can see them every Saturday morning in the big parking on the E40 between Veurne and Jabbeke) but never seem to stop any of their own trucks.
One of our driver’s,who is Dutch,had fourteen jobs in two years when he moved to Genk (that’s more than I’ve had since I left school) and out of those fourteen,which are all within a 30km radius of Genk,only three companies insisted that everything was done by the book.
Most of them told him he either ran day and night or find another job!
In fact we had a local firm subbying for us last year,and one of their drivers had great delight in telling us that he’d regularly done a trip from Antwerp to Valencia and back in three day’s
As coffeeholic said though,the German police and BAG are always fair.
The only thing I’d ever got fined for in Germany was for being overweight,and after being taken to a weighbridge and fined they let you go on your way.
Can you imagine that happening in the UK when they find you’re three tons over!
What KW says above is quite correct.
I have worked for Dutch companies now for over 20 years and they used to be the same, the reason being was that the drivers are paid hourly and Dutch law stipulates that the owner of the vehicle is responsable for the fines , all this led to the situation that if the boss said go for it you went as it increased your earnings (quite often on overtime by Wed morning) and the fines were not your problem and points on the licence were not heard of.
In the last few years though the majority of Dutch companies seem to have cleaned their act up and tend to run more legally even though 9 hours rest is seen as a maximum nd not a minimum.
That might explain why Delta haven’t bothered to put their rates up, to cover the MAUT costs. They don’t need too, cause their drivers get there just as quickly running 24hours a day, the long way round. .
One of the reasons I am about to be laid off, again .
As Coffee & KW said, the Germans are always fair, which is why I liked it there.
In a ministry check the tacho proved I’d had periods of 110 k/h. The man listened patiently while I explained that that was just on downhill stretches, saving the brakes. He politely waved me on saying ‘please try to keep to 100 in future’.
Spardo:
As Coffee & KW said, the Germans are always fair, which is why I liked it there.
.
I’ve always found the Germans to be fair.
I’ve been fined a couple of times- once for overtaking a Romanian in the days when their trucks were old and slow, and ours were new and fast…A distant memory now!
And once for speeding (I was spotted by a helicopter, before we had speed limiters)
But I have no complaints about either fine. Zis iss ein fair kop, mein fuehrer!
Spardo:
As Coffee & KW said, the Germans are always fair, which is why I liked it there.
In a ministry check the tacho proved I’d had periods of 110 k/h. The man listened patiently while I explained that that was just on downhill stretches, saving the brakes. He politely waved me on saying ‘please try to keep to 100 in future’.
Salut, David.
■■■■, Ve haf not hill vich ist 40 km long Drei hundert mark bitte
I got nicked by a helicopter for alleged fraud in 1978. I had a trailer numberplate laid on the body of my rigid, he thought I was being dodgy
on my face
, all this led to the situation that if the boss said go for it you went as it increased your earnings (quite often on overtime by Wed morning) and the fines were not your problem and points on the licence were not heard of.
.
Drei hundert mark bitte