Flagged out hauliers face Dutch disaster
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• by Sally Nash Lawyers are predicting an "avalanche" of Dutch licence revocations for UK hauliers who have flagged out to the Netherlands.
Dutch lawyer Han Vahanduuk says a preliminary court decision in April could settle the issue of whether it is possible to hold a Dutch licence and register the vehicles in the Netherlands while running the company from a British office.
The case centres on a UK haulier who flagged out 40 vehicles in the Netherlands, but had its Dutch licence revoked in June 2000 when it was dis
covered that the operation was being run from the UK.
"The licence was revoked on the grounds that the CPC holder did not effectively and permanently manage the company from the Dutch office," says Vallenduuk. "It is the first revoked Dutch licence of many to come, unless next month's decision turns out well."
Vallenduuk has now stopped helping operators flag out, because, he explains: "Most hauliers do not provide the documents to the Netherlands to satisfy the authorities."
The move could present further problems to hauliers who have partially flagged out. They were recently ordered to reregister their vehicles in the UK or remove them from their UK 0-licences (CM8-14 March).
Senior Traffic Commissioner Michael Betts claimed that some hauliers had "chosen to register their vehicles abroad to gain an unfair advantage over those who remained in the Ur.
However, operator Austin Caulfield in Warrington has hit back: "Most flagging out has been done by people engaged in European haulage, and only to escape the punitive VED rates legislated by HM Government."