The incidents follow a familiar yet disturbing trend that Trans.INFO has been following for almost a year now. Just like in the vast majority of violent rest stop incidents, at least two of three the cases that occurred over the weekend involved drivers who had been drinking before a squabble intensified.
According to multiple reports in the German media, one of the incidents took place at a rest area on the A45 near Hanau on Easter Saturday.
It is said that two truck drivers who had been drinking ended up in a physical fight that eventually saw one of the drivers stab the other with a knife.
The alleged 38-year-old perpetrator was found by police officers at a service area near the district border of Main-Kinzig-Kreis and Wetteraukreis. The man was released after “police measures had been completed” and bail for dangerous bodily harm had been paid.
An ambulance took the victim to a hospital in Frankfurt. According to the police, the injuries from the knife attack were not life-threatening.
Meanwhile, in a separate rest stop incident that occurred near Würzburg on Saturday afternoon, another lorry driver was stabbed. Again, the attacker was found to have been drinking alcohol before a fight broke out.
A local newspaper report states that the incident was the result of an argument that escalated into a violent fight. The only difference on this occasion was that at one point, the two individuals in the fight decided to go their separate ways. The impasse didn’t last long however, with one of the truck drivers returning to stab the other several times – causing serious injuries.
The attacker tried to flee in his vehicle, but other truck drivers blocked the exit of the rest area to prevent his escape and thus facilitate his arrest.
Unfortunately, the spate of knife attacks at rest areas over the Easter weekend didn’t end there. As swr.de reports, yet another lorry driver was seriously injured after a fight got out of hand – this time by the A8 near Nellingen.
According to the local police force, the two truck drivers involved in the incident had arranged to fight each other. It is said that the older of the two drivers, a 56-year-old, had come on top after two bouts. An argument then broke out, and when a third driver separated the two men, he noticed that the younger driver involved in the fight, a 35-year-old, was bleeding.
It appeared that the older driver had drawn a knife during the fight, causing the 35-year-old lorry driver to be seriously injured. The driver accused of the stabbing is now being investigated for dangerous bodily harm. It isn’t said whether any of the participants in the fight had been drinking beforehand.
Serious rest stop incidents in Europe that have occured between lorry drivers in the last 11 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. |
| Germany, April 2022 | At a rest area on the A45 near Hanau, a lorry driver stabbed another truck driver, causing the latter to be hospitalised. Both had been drinking beforehand. |
| Germany, April 2022 | A lorry driver who was under the influence of alcohol stabbed another several times after an argument escalated into a violent fight. The attacker tried to flee in his vehicle but was prevented from doing so by other truckers, who blocked the exit of the rest area near Würzburg. |
| Germany, April 2022 | Two lorry drivers agreed to a fist fight, only for one to later pull a knife on the other. The incident occured by the A8 near Nellingen. |
Photo: Tony Webster / Flickr / CC BY 2.0