Cabotage has been going on for years and years, loading in say, Italy for Spain was cabotage, unless you had a blue book (it would’ve been pink in your case Luke 
) internals were strictly forbidden though, unless you had a yellow book, until Jan 1st 1993, then the books went out the window (except the yellow one) prior to 93 every company I worked for had a blue (or pink) book, a couple had the yellow books too, we were always tipping in France and reloading for Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, we used to load for Poland from Spain quite regularly too and on the firms with the yellow book we were always tipping Milan and loading up there with something that would take us down south so we could drag the fruit home, I even did a few loads of milk powder (I hope 
) from Bergamo to Palermo, home of the Mafia and a very strictly controlled place to load in and out of, nobody gave a toss then, least of all the British Hauliers I was working for, why should it be any different now?
It’s not the fault of the hauliers, no matter where they come from, it’s the fault of the tossers in Brussels, they say it’s all one market, yet all the costs the British hauliers have to pay are far greater than the majority of our European Brethren, especially those east of Germany, if it’s going to be a common market then prices have to be the same in Basingstoke as they are in Bucharest 
Carryfast, the Mexican Cross Border programme is doing my head in, the Yanks really have their knickers in a twist over this, it’s all they go on about, total xenophobia, it will cost them a few loads, especially in the Laredo to Detroit corridor, all the motor plants that deserted Detroit being in Neuevo Laredo now, but they’ve blown it out of all proportion, only to be expected really, most of them are trailer park dwelling hillbillies with an IQ lower than their shoe size 
colin.f.whitetrans:
Coffeeholic:
colin.f.whitetrans:
I would have to disagree with that as i was parked before at the romanian border because i had unloaded in hungary and reloaded for bucharest? I had a mate fined £300 for loading in poland and tipping in germany which the germans didnt take kindly to either so i dont think it is just vosa but like most things in the EU it is a ruling that is very hard to enforce
How long ago was this? There is nothing wrong with loading in Poland and delivering to Germany, or vice versa, with a UK registered truck. I’ve done it several times in the last year or so. Years ago you would have needed an ECMT permit to do it but not now.
He didnt have the permit hence the fine. It would be pre 2000 i think but not sure the excact year
I had this several years ago. I loaded in Hungary with an English registered lorry and went to tip in Germany, they were having none of it and we ended up lifting the tank container off the chassis and letting a German guy tip the tank. Luckily the company had a top lifter but it took several hours to sort out. No fines though just a bollocking from the German transport office. But yes that was with a tramping book.
newmercman:
Cabotage has been going on for years and years, loading in say, Italy for Spain was cabotage, unless you had a blue book (it would’ve been pink in your case Luke ) internals were strictly forbidden though, unless you had a yellow book, until Jan 1st 1993, then the books went out the window (except the yellow one) prior to 93 every company I worked for had a blue (or pink) book, a couple had the yellow books too, we were always tipping in France and reloading for Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, we used to load for Poland from Spain quite regularly too and on the firms with the yellow book we were always tipping Milan and loading up there with something that would take us down south so we could drag the fruit home, I even did a few loads of milk powder (I hope ) from Bergamo to Palermo, home of the Mafia and a very strictly controlled place to load in and out of, nobody gave a toss then, least of all the British Hauliers I was working for, why should it be any different now?
It’s not the fault of the hauliers, no matter where they come from, it’s the fault of the tossers in Brussels, they say it’s all one market, yet all the costs the British hauliers have to pay are far greater than the majority of our European Brethren, especially those east of Germany, if it’s going to be a common market then prices have to be the same in Basingstoke as they are in Bucharest
Carryfast, the Mexican Cross Border programme is doing my head in, the Yanks really have their knickers in a twist over this, it’s all they go on about, total xenophobia, it will cost them a few loads, especially in the Laredo to Detroit corridor, all the motor plants that deserted Detroit being in Neuevo Laredo now, but they’ve blown it out of all proportion, only to be expected really, most of them are trailer park dwelling hillbillies with an IQ lower than their shoe size
But the issue of us doing work in Italy is irrelevant in this case because it was’nt a case of us using the advantages of having an underveloped economy at home to ■■■■■ international rates across europe by being given the money (and equipment) free by some pc bunch of zb’s in the developed economies like the British government has done now with the east european zb’s.
But anything that you’d have done on that yellow and blue quota permit system would have been reciprocated somewhere down the line so that an Italian outfit somewhere would have had the same opportunities to do the same thing somewhere else which is why they went to all the trouble of building those V8 Fiat flying machines 
.
Although no one is saying that there were’nt any dodgy goings on in the old permits sytems as some say that they were printing dodgy permits all over the place and anything the Italians can do we can do better as Michael Cain showed but it’s just a shame that he employed the wrong coach driver. .But it probably all evened itself out in the end and trading between reasonably equally developed economies is’nt the same thing at all as what the east europeans are doing now 
.
Also think you’ve been a bit unfair there on the yanks who’ve also got my full backing for what they’re doing with the Mexicans.Surely you can’t believe that the US and Canadian road transport industry could withstand competition from that lot and that you would continue to be able to work there,earning a north american standard of living and earnings,if the yanks throw open the doors to both Mexican immigration for drivers working there and for cross border north american haulage,including cabotage operations,in both the US and Canada. 
how is it that i see the same polish registered lorries in Tilbury pulling ecs containers week in and week out. There is even a Greek scania that I see there all the time?
Carryfast:
Also think you’ve been a bit unfair there on the yanks who’ve also got my full backing for what they’re doing with the Mexicans.
I’m sure they’ll be glad to hear it. Have you informed Washington 
Well I was wondering how you’d respond and bravo you didn’t disappoint!
