Belgian Police Issuing €189.000

Of Fines For A Day Of Action

The action took place close to the port of Zeebrugge. PHOTO: POLICE.BE11 JUNE - 53 trucks were checked by Belgian Federal Police for a day of enforcement action near the port of Zeebrugge.

The inspections, carried out by the labor auditor, focused mainly on compliance with social legislation.

Inspection

All vehicles were checked in the presence of the driver. The checks focused on compliance with social legislation and therefore on the working and living conditions of drivers. In addition, the customs and the federal police each brought an anti-drug dog, and checks were carried out, among other things, on the vehicle documents and the tachograph, the Police informed.

Results

In the end, 101 offenses were recorded in terms of drivers' weekly rest period. Truck drivers are required to regularly take breaks of at least 45 hours. They are not authorized to spend this break in their vehicle. In reality, however, drivers are often unable to find an alternate resting place, such as a hotel or apartment. They then spend their weekends resting in the passenger compartment of their vehicle, in car parks where the necessary facilities (adequate toilets, showers, kitchen, comfortable resting place, etc.) are scarcely available. Further 32 breaches of the obligation to return were recorded. Trucks must return to the country of establishment of their company at least once every 8 weeks. This rule is also often violated. Transport companies based in other European countries and whose vehicles are registered there thus operate for months and even years only abroad without returning to the country of registration disrupting competition in the freight sector by social dumping with drivers wages, social security taxes and bypassing posting rules. As a result, three trucks were seized by the Police.

Tacho

A number of other infractions were also noted during the action: 7 infringements concerning driving and rest times or the use of tachographs, 1 case of AdBlue fraud, 8 other offences, including falsifying or falsely obtaining various documents. A total of 189,400 euros in fines were imposed, mainly against the transport company and not the driver himself. One person was arrested for illegal work. If necessary, further investigations will be launched by the Judicial Police or the inspection services, the Police informed.