Last Friday, on the German A2 motorway in Gütersloh near Bielefeld, police stopped a truck with a semi-trailer bearing Bulgarian registration plates for inspection. The combination was heading towards Hanover. During the inspection, officers discovered that the Greek driver was using two driver cards. The tachograph of the semi-trailer tractor contained data from two different drivers.
“The drivers were always swapped after each had reached the maximum permitted driving time. However, the second driver could not be found during the checks. For this reason, officers suspected that the 58-year-old Greek driver was using two different driver cards to deliberately violate driving time regulations and conceal these violations,” reads the police statement from North Rhine-Westphalia.
During further checks, the police found a second driver card inside the vehicle. They concluded that the driving time recorded under the second driver’s name could actually be attributed to the Greek driver.
“During the inspection, further breaches of social regulations by the Bulgarian haulier were identified. The fine for the Greek driver is approximately 18,000 euros, while the Bulgarian haulier faces a fine of approximately 200,000 euros. The second driver’s card was confiscated,” the police reported.
This case should serve as a warning to transport hauliers that fail to comply with social regulations. As reality shows, ignoring and violating them can prove to be extremely costly for a business.