A Northern Irish firm has been fined €8,500 for illegal cabotage operations after exceeding the amount of cabotage trips it was legally permitted to carry out in the Republic of Ireland.
According to Donegal Live, the case concerns Calbro Construction (NI) Limited.
A representative from Ireland’s Road Safety Authority (RSA) had the following to say regarding the offence:
When an out-of-state licenced haulier enters the state and unloads, they are entitled to carry out no more than three operations within seven days. Once the third load has been emptied they are not permitted to carry out any more operations within the state. They may leave the state and enter again. On the dates in question, the vehicles were in continuous operation carrying up to 11 loads a day from the quarry in Killybegs to the roadworks in Dunkineely. The vehicles were remaining on site for a week or more. They never left the state.
The company’s defence lawyer Eunan Gallagher explained that the haulier did have a UK licence, but applied for one in the Republic of Ireland. He said that problem had been caused by a misunderstanding that using UK registered vehicles would not be an issue:
“Subsequent to the detection in October they applied for a haulier’s licence in the Republic of Ireland. The application was made in October 2019. The licence didn’t issue until June 2020. The principal of the company was under the mistaken view that having a licence in the Republic of Ireland meant that he could still continue to deliver the site. But having UK registered vehicles didn’t comply.”
However, in the opinion of Judge Kevin Kilrane, given the company had taken part in the tender for the job in Donegal, it should have understood the regulations:
“I am fully satisfied that the defendant was aware from the start and remained aware. It was cheaper to continue to offend than to stop. When told what they were doing was illegal, they decided it was cheaper to motor on. The rules are created so that trading is not distorted within member states.”
Given that maximum penalty for illegal cabotage is €5,000 per offence, the haulage firm could have been fined as much as €35,000. However, the company’s lawyer argued that the judge should apply some leniency due to the firm being so small and having cooperated fully with the RSA.
In the end, the company were fined a total of €8,500.
Photo credit: Google Street View (illustrative image)