Fortunately, as far as we aware, no seriously violent rest stop incident between lorry drivers occurred in Europe last month. However, we regret to inform that another fight involving a knife resulted in a lorry driver being seriously injured last weekend. An analysis of our news archive reveals that there have been almost one of these horrific incidents every month in Europe since May 2021.
The most detailed report regarding the latest incident was published today by German newspaper Frankfurter Neue Press. In the article, it is revealed that the incident occured at a rest area on the A66 near Frankfurt on Saturday at 10.25 pm.
Again, as in almost all of the cases referred to in the table below, the incident occured on Saturday night after an escalated dispute between two drivers. It isn’t known, however, whether the drivers had been drinking alcohol, which has often been the case in previous incidents of this nature.
According to the police, the victim was taken to a nearby hospital with multiple stab wounds. His injuries were serious but not life-threatening.
The perpetrator fled in his Spanish-registered White Mercedes Actros. The rest area was closed for over 3 hours while the police carried out its investigation. At the time of writing, officers are still trying to track down the attacker and are calling on witnesses for help.
Although thousands of truck drivers across Europe stay together in parking facilities and rest stops without a hint of any serious violence occurring, the frequency at which these incidents are happening is cause for concern.
Given the circumstances surrounding these examples, could the awful pay and conditions experienced by some 3rd-country drivers be acting as a catalyst for such violent incidents? Following a violent stabbing at a rest are in Denmark last autumn, we reached out to Cristina Tilling, Head of Land Transport at the European Transport Workers’ Federation. She told Trans.INFO:
“Truck drivers’ working conditions have depreciated exponentially over the years. Even before the pandemic, the sector was faced with an unprecedented shortage and this, combined with the worsening conditions, led to an increasing number of 3rd country nationals being brought to Europe to fill the gap. The exploitation of 3rd country nationals is even more ruthless since they are more dependent on their jobs and employers. The pandemic added to the insecurity and vulnerability of long haul truck drivers, whether or not they were 3rd country nationals. Being away from families that might have been facing health problems and falling victim to covid did not improve the situation.”
Serious rest stop incidents in Europe that have occured between lorry drivers in the last 10 months
| Where and when | What happened |
| Germany, May 2021 | A lorry driver from Ukraine was stabbed after a fight broke out between himself and his drunk compatriot. Fortunately, two other truckers, also Ukrainians, came to the man’s defence and the injuries he received were not life threatening. |
| Austria, May 2021 | Two lorry drivers were arrested after injuring each other during an ugly fight at a Tyrol rest area that escalated to the point a hammer and a knife were used. |
| Denmark, October 2021 | An argument between drivers from Russia and Ukraine at a lorry park led to one driver being stabbed in the chest and had to be taken to accident and emergency. |
| England, October 2021 | A lorry driver died after ’an altercation’ at a lorry park in England near Felixstowe port. Admittedly, at the time the original report surfaced, the cause of death was unknown. Therefore it isn’t certain that the so-called altercation was the direct cause. |
| Austria, December 2021 | A fight took place among drivers from Ukraine who had been drinking heavily. A kitchen knife was used and two of the truckers had to be taken to hospital for treatment of “big cuts”. According to reports in the Austrian press, the fight broke out in a rest area in Angath near the border with Germany. |
| Germany, December 2021 | A lorry driver was killed at the Lehrte restop near Hanover after being run over in the aftermath of a heated argument with a colleague. The police nonetheless believed that it was not the intention of the driver, who had smelled of alcohol, to run over his colleague. |
| Austria, January 2022 | A Romanian driver was strangled and threatened with a knife by his colleague and fellow-countryman while the duo were spending their rest time at a parking area on the A2 motorway by the Ilz junction. |
| Germany, March 2022 | A fight between two lorry drivers escalates as one stabs the other on multiple occasions, leaving the victim with serious injuries |