This lot seem to have sprung up in a big way lately. Are they a spanish or east european company ?.
Spanish registered trailers pulled by mainly Romanians, load Spain for the UK then reload and return but I never see the RO trucks going back to RO so where they get their maintenance done and when they go home who knows but we can’t complain because its all fair in europe (allegedly) 
met a driver last week tipping in the UK, Spanish trailer, Porkyguese reg truck.
I wasn’t sure about the flag he had in the windscreen so asked him where he was from, Macedonia 
since when did they enter the EU so that he could work in the EU and how do they get past the “border force” at the ports? they let anybody in nowadays 
you will see ex haulier on your regular visits to spain that more and more spanish trailers are being pulled around europe by porky reg trucks but driven by ukrainians, brazilians and god knows what else
welshboyinspain:
Spanish registered trailers pulled by mainly Romanians, load Spain for the UK then reload and return but I never see the RO trucks going back to RO so where they get their maintenance done and when they go home who knows but we can’t complain because its all fair in europe (allegedly)
that’s funny. if a tree falls in the wood and you don’t see it, it didn’t happen? I almost never do my servicing back at home, because it’s cheaper everywhere else and as there are - try to comprehend now - scania garages all over europe…
milodon:
welshboyinspain:
Spanish registered trailers pulled by mainly Romanians, load Spain for the UK then reload and return but I never see the RO trucks going back to RO so where they get their maintenance done and when they go home who knows but we can’t complain because its all fair in europe (allegedly)that’s funny. if a tree falls in the wood and you don’t see it, it didn’t happen? I almost never do my servicing back at home, because it’s cheaper everywhere else and as there are - try to comprehend now - scania garages all over europe…
I know you don’t like the criticism milodon being east european but under UK rules the haulier must get his truck inspected every 6 weeks which means going home, my boss claims there is some rule on his tarjeta de transporte that he must bring his trucks back to spain every so often but this i don’t know as i haven’t passed my spanish cpc yet. my point being that PVM Solar and many others are using the RO’s back and fore the UK but not back and fore to RO so when does the truck go home? yet another unfair advantage the plastic russians have over us
as for not seeing every truck you are quite right obviously so I’ll bow to your superior knowledge and never criticise eastern european trucks again…NOT
A question not really on topic but of a similar vain–
Why do you hardly ever see any Turkish trucks in Spain■■?
Ben9:
A question not really on topic but of a similar vain–Why do you hardly ever see any Turkish trucks in Spain■■?
you do if you run up the coast but if you come down from the UK and cross in at Irun you won’t see many
used to see quite a few between Barcelona and Valencia as they would always cross into spain at la jonquera and run down the coast but nowadays there are a lot of turkish trailers being pulled by a bulgarian outfit called PIMK, i see them everywhere more than i see willy betz.
having said that the last month or so all the willi betz i’ve seen were being pulled by a company calle POL-MAT with the letters in the same style as willi betz?
I saw a lot of Betz units parked up near Bayonne. I watched for a while and they seemed to be swapping trailers with spanish units. Don’t know if i am right but i rather got the impression that they were avoiding going into basque country.
welshboyinspain:
I know you don’t like the criticism milodon being east european but under UK rules the haulier must get his truck inspected every 6 weeks which means going home, my boss claims there is some rule on his tarjeta de transporte that he must bring his trucks back to spain every so often but this i don’t know as i haven’t passed my spanish cpc yet. my point being that PVM Solar and many others are using the RO’s back and fore the UK but not back and fore to RO so when does the truck go home? yet another unfair advantage the plastic russians have over us
as for not seeing every truck you are quite right obviously so I’ll bow to your superior knowledge and never criticise eastern european trucks again…NOT
I would not have anything against constructive criticism but what you’re serving is just a rant. Should everyone start running their trucks according to UK rules? Are you running your truck according to the UK rules? What you’re complaining about is the silly 6-week inspection rule, not so much the fact that everyone else doesn’t need to go home that often. But with you being a self-confessed bigot and all, nothing you say actually holds that much weight anyway.
if eastern europeans did have to have a inspection every 6 weeks thesame as the uk they might not drive round in such piles of ■■■■ with brake pads missing air bags gone and axle ratchet straped up and think they can get away with it plus this would add to thier opperating costs helping towards a bit more of a fairer europe …I DONT THINK
CRAIG-D:
if eastern europeans did have to have a inspection every 6 weeks thesame as the uk they might not drive round in such piles of [zb] with brake pads missing air bags gone and axle ratchet straped up and think they can get away with it plus this would add to thier opperating costs helping towards a bit more of a fairer europe …I DONT THINK
careful now craig don’t go upsetting milodon or he’ll be calling you a bigot too
in answer to you milodon how would you like it if thousands of non estonians entered your country and worked for half the wages of the locals? oh yes i forgot it wouldn’t affect you because you live in estonia but work in sweden, yes i’m a bigot about eastern europeans i don’t have a problem with admitting it but until you can compete fairly with the rest of us western europeans i’ll continue to be a bigot.
when the east was allowed to join the idea was their living standards would rise to meet those of us in the west whereas whats really happened is we’ve had to lower our wages to compete with the east, bring back communism and the eastern bloc at least you knew where you stood in those days, god help us if and when turkey and ukraine join
This thread will probably get locked, but before it does, does anyone else thing the 6 weekly inspections are a bit archaic?
We seem to be the only country who are religious about them, in fact we are probably the only country that have them as a condition of the O licence. Most trucks only need an oil change every 12 months or more, the brakes are far superior and with all the engine and computer management controls, plus the memory of the computers there really should be no need.
I worked for 4 or 5 continental operators and had a mix of trucks, and a mix of registration plates. The British ones had an inspection while the foreign plates carried on earning, the trucks were identical and when they did go in for service, they were still well maintained. Drivers kept an eye on tyres, lamps and reported all damage.
There are some absolute piles of crap on the road, some are UK registered, some are on foreign plates
I wish we had the 6 weekly inspections in spain might have saved me 2 breakdowns this year,
1st was simple but a jubilee clamp came off the turbo pipe as i was climbing the big hill at la carolina not something i carry as a spare so i lost couple of hours while i dropped the trailer and went to buy one maybe an inspection would have spotted it.
the 2nd was bit bigger with a piston going while on my way down from ullapool with a load of fish, maybe the inspection would have seen the drop in compression if the computer was plugged in regularly.
my point is not just about the 6 weekly inspections though, how is it fair that hauliers from one country can run between 2 others while not going home?
can newcastle taxi drivers work the streets of london? no. can paris buses work the streets of madrid? no. but as they are all european why not? can you imagine the london taxi drivers allowing that? but how can it be stopped if trucks are allowed to ply their trade anywhere they like?
Any different from the questions…
Can a Welsh driver drive for an Irish Company whose attitudes and pay rates mean locals won’t work for them ■■?
Can this driver park his unit in Wales, away from the operating centre, and be happy with irregular maintainence and illegal running ■■?
A few decades ago YOU were the ones who displaced Irish drivers and helped screw the job up and yet now you hold in contempt those who merely mirror you some years later
The playing field may be uneven but personally I choose to blame the politicians not the drivers, who are clearly doing there best for there families and themselves as the likes of you did 
Being a bigot is great when you’re at the right side of the attitude. People in glass houses … 
CRAIG-D:
if eastern europeans did have to have a inspection every 6 weeks thesame as the uk they might not drive round in such piles of [zb] with brake pads missing air bags gone and axle ratchet straped up and think they can get away with it plus this would add to thier opperating costs helping towards a bit more of a fairer europe …I DONT THINK
Far worse and far more often seen on the English lorry not so long ago though.
it winds me upso much welshboy i agree with everyting you say we used to do alot of euro work running 9 trucks and only 1 on uk work we are now down to 2 and just can not compete for euro work out of the uk as eastern europeans and western europeans companys employing cheep eastern and morrocan/north african labour .and yes i to am a bigot lol
welshboyinspain:
careful now craig don’t go upsetting milodon or he’ll be calling you a bigot too
please try and turn down the drama queen act a bit, I try to refrain from namecalling and so was only quoting what you have said about yourself.
did you expect the living standards to rise to your level in a fortnight? I believe there are many things you can critizise the easter europeans on, for example language skills or personal hygiene sometimes but what got my response was the “the trucks never get serviced because they only go home ever so often” comment and as I was pointing out for the umpteenth time, that is not so. I got my scania serviced in scania beasain the last time, as it is actually cheaper than in estonia, or sweden for that matter.
yes milodon i understand but as you have admitted on another thread you truck only goes back to estonia once a year so benefitting no doubt from lower taxes? if you work out of sweden constantly why don’t you have a swedish registered truck? does it work out more expensive? probably does thats why you still have estonian plates.
as for being a bigot if its still legal then i’m still a bigot, as europeans we can all live happily wherever we like but at least have the decency to work for the local wages don’t bring romanian and bulgarian wage structures to spain thats my gripe. i know its the bosses fault for exploiting the system there are plenty of haulage bosses using foreign trucks to lower the costs but if they worked for the same rates as everybody else we’d all be better off including them.
as for slagging off eastern europeans for personal hygiene thats nothing to do with being a bigot, i genuinely meet drivers from all over europe and beyond and the majority of eastern europeans don’t shower regularly and have a terrible fondness for flip flops with dirty socks, but i think the french smelll the most
welshboyinspain:
I wish we had the 6 weekly inspections in spain might have saved me 2 breakdowns this year,
1st was simple but a jubilee clamp came off the turbo pipe as i was climbing the big hill at la carolina not something i carry as a spare so i lost couple of hours while i dropped the trailer and went to buy one maybe an inspection would have spotted it.
the 2nd was bit bigger with a piston going while on my way down from ullapool with a load of fish, maybe the inspection would have seen the drop in compression if the computer was plugged in regularly.
my point is not just about the 6 weekly inspections though, how is it fair that hauliers from one country can run between 2 others while not going home?
can newcastle taxi drivers work the streets of london? no. can paris buses work the streets of madrid? no. but as they are all european why not? can you imagine the london taxi drivers allowing that? but how can it be stopped if trucks are allowed to ply their trade anywhere they like?
Nah! you would have still had 2 breakdowns, the inspections generally involve a tyre kicking exercise and a fluid check. None that I have seen carried out have involved the cab being thrown over, in fact as i kept my own keys, they didn’t even start the engine. I cracked a mirror and reported it to the office, “don’t worry, it is due for inspection this weekend” On Monday morning the mirror was still cracked although the VOSA approved check sheet found nothing wrong
They certainly do not plug them in to the laptop
when my truck was in dundee merc dealer each truck that came in got plugged in to the computer for defects nowadays they are all too technical.
i had an oil sensor go when in malaga recently, red light came on STOP so i stopped computer said no oil, fitter comes out plugs in computer and within 5 minutes changed the sensor he also says i’ve got small problem with adblue pump and next time i’m home to take it in. these days they’re not fitters more like IT technicians 