News

The European Commission has given the UK government two months to prove it will implement a 2006 EU Directive on roadside hours and tacho checks, on pain of legal action. The UK is among eight EU member states sent a final warning letter threatening action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which is empowered to force governments to act. The other countries facing legal action are Greece, Italy,  Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia.

Directive EC/506/2006 defines where, how and how often roadside checks should be made. This is not an empty threat - the EC is currently taking legal action against two EU states at the ECJ:

• Greece - for failing to ensure its operators fit digitachs to new trucks, in contravention of regulation EC/3821/85
• Spain -for allowing trucks making frequent use of its motorways to enjoy toll discounts of up to 50%, thus giving domestic operators an illegal advantage over foreign visitors.