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Dutch haulage sector to take joint action over mounting CAZ fines in the UK

Earlier this month, a French owner-driver who transports goods to and from the UK revealed he had received over 300 LEZ and congestion charge fines totalling €205,000 in just 2 weeks. Now it has emerged that Dutch haulage firms have been suffering from similar problems, and a joint-action has even been launched to get to the bottom of the issue.

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As Dutch road transport website TTM.NL reports, hauliers from the Netherlands are currently receiving a large amount of fines for not registering vehicles for the UK’s various low emission zones. It is said that these are often violations that were committed years ago and can even amount to €200,000.

In order to get an understanding as to the scale of the problem, road transport services firm Transport in Nood, together with haulage association Transport and Logistics Netherlands, have launched a joint action. The two entities want hauliers to visit this link to register their fines. They will then reach out to the UK authorities to see what can be done about the issue.

As the parties explained, the fines are sent to hauliers on behalf of the UK authorities by EPC PLC. One of the issues hauliers have faced here is that instead of receiving a fine immediately, and thereafter having the knowledge required to avoid further penalties, they receive one huge batch of historical fines that have mounted up over time.

 “Even if the fines for the violations are justified, it is important that the procedures are also followed correctly. If you suddenly receive a pile of fines in your mailbox that can add up to thousands of euros, then that makes you think. Companies have therefore not had the opportunity to adjust their behavior in the event of a relatively minor violation,” says Marina Fliers, TLN’s international member service advisor, told TTM.NL.

Fliers added:

“Together with Transport in Nood, there are question marks about a number of fines and companies seem to have been wrongly fined. By using the database, we can talk to the various authorities in the United Kingdom to see how this very annoying situation can be resolved.”


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