I know that in some parts of Europe winter tyres are required to be fitted to your truck during the winter months so i just wondered (excuse my ignorance) do UK firms bother fitting them?What are the penalties if your caught without them?If they are fitted do you keep them on during the summer months and when fitted does fuel consumption suffer?
Try reading this LINK-HEREread it all the way through
as the tyres are mentiones in a later post,
please bear in mind if caught with out winter tyres say in AUSTRIA
they fine you and then you get to buy winter tyres before being allowed to move, as for snowchains the same will apply and in some countrys you
will be refused entry if you do not have these with you,
In 20 odd years of doing Europe, most of that time as an O/D I never fitted winter tyres and only carried chains on a few occasions, trips to Norway for instance. I also don’t know of any company or fellow O/D who fitted winter tyres and neither I nor anyone of my acquaintance has ever been fined for not having them. The most I did was make sure during the winter months the tyres had a fair amount of tread left. I have had tyres checked for tread depth, damage, cuts etc while in controls but never once checked to see if they were winter tyres or not. My current vehicle just has normal tyres and I don’t carry snow chains. I have spent almost every week of this winter in Germany, and a couple of trips through Germany to Poland and the tyres or lack of snow chains has not been questioned in any controls I have encountered. Obviously if signs were up on specific roads to say snow chains must be used I wouldn’t use that road.
This posted by a member in the post C&E EUROPE
:,The police in Austria are out checking tyres and chains :,
It is true many UK haulers do not bother well good luck to one and all
if one is not bothered, however if stopped and checked and done then
thats where you get out of pocket, as for not carrying snowchains all well
and good but as you will see in the post some countrys stipulate you must
have winterytres and snow chains, every one to there own, as Coffeholic has posted he has had no problems, as of yet, , One point here there is a shortage of salt and grit in many countys of germany so the roads are not getting as clear of snow and ice as they should be,
Thanks Pete and Coffee for the replies
The majority of German firms put the winter tyres on
as soon as the rules /weather starts as for snow-chains they
will get out in /on the truck as well, How ever if you are carrying
ADR/HAZ they are rules about movement and so you will rarely use
the chains unless you are in a area where you have to ,they then put summer tyres back on in the spring when the winter weather has gone,
I am the same as Coffee, never had winter tyres and never had any problems, although I have only been pulled into controls a few times in Germany… In Austria I have been pulled into controls 100’s of times with no problem.
I was in Verbier (Swiss) a couple of years ago and got stuck in the snow in the middle of the town and had to get pulled out by another truck, the police were called to direct traffic and one asked me where my snow chains were…I didn’t have any, but when I showed them the gap between the side of my truck and the tyre they realized it would be impossible to to fit them so they had no problems with that either.
If I was an owner driver I doubt very much I would go to the expense of fitting winter tyres until I got caught without them, the fine wouldn’t be as much as the annual costs of two sets of tyres unless you got caught a few times
I am going to be given a hard time but FOLKS the old days are no longer
if you get caught in a check or have a accident and that country states
WINTER tyres, plus also Snow chains the fine and costs that you incur will
break your bank let alone the standing around time until the tyres are there and fitted, If you believe that’s the way to go,okay, also take note
if you have a accident and the police consider your actions irresponsible
the visit before the Judge will change your mind,
ALSO LOOK AT THE POST about C&E europe FROM ANOTHER MEMBER
please,
Always made sure I had tyres with plenty of tread for the winter,but never,ever used snow chains.
Driving Italy we always carried chains,and I almost came close once going over the Brenner to putting them on.
On regular trips to Norway during the winter months our driver’s had to carry three sets.One for the steer axle,one for the drive axle and one for the leading trailer axle.No chains,no entry.
If it gets that bad,then stop and put the coffee on 
brit pete:
I am going to be given a hard time but FOLKS the old days are no longer
if you get caught in a check or have a accident and that country states
WINTER tyres, plus also Snow chains the fine and costs that you incur will
break your bank let alone the standing around time until the tyres are there and fitted, If you believe that’s the way to go,okay,
So how come I have been in two separate controls in Germany recently, both times during the spell of snowy weather leading up to Christmas, and while the vehicle was checked over the question of winter tyres never came up, nor did the lack of snow chains.
i haven’t got snow chains, i’ve never used them so don’t even know which axle and how to put them on 
i have got a pair of snow curtains though, if it snows that bad close the curtains and wake me when its ok to go 
either you was lucky or they looked at the tyres and checked it against
a list, I have no idea as you know your self some countys (Land-Kreis)
are stricter than others,
brit pete:
either you was lucky or they looked at the tyres and checked it against
a list, I have no idea as you know your self some countys (Land-Kreis)
are stricter than others,
One was NRW and one was Brandenburg, both of which have had more than their fair share of snow recently…
I wonder if DoYouMeanMe noticed if the BMW men Troy Corser and Ruben Xaus had winter tyres on the race transporter in Valencia a couple of weeks ago. After all they drove from Germany down to the Sun for Moto GP Testing.
As the others mentioned, I have driven in Germany a lot with black round tyres, nothing special except make sure they had tread on them. And Pete that was even driving for a large German company who were very strict about everything being 100% correct.
Wheel Nut:
…with black round tyres, nothing special except make sure they had tread on them.
That’s all I ever bothered about, try to avoid running slicks and you’re good to go.
Coffeeholic:
Wheel Nut:
…with black round tyres, nothing special except make sure they had tread on them.That’s all I ever bothered about, try to avoid running slicks and you’re good to go.
I’m the same.
I’ve only been going to Europe for 10 years, but none of the companies I’ve driven for have used winter tyres or snow chains. The nearest I’ve been was when I was asked to throw a pair of load chains onto my trailer. The idea being, ’ if I was asked where my snow chains where, I should point at these bundles of chain’. I was also instructed that if I needed snow chains I should deploy my snow curtains instead and inform the office.