Prosecutions for Black box plan falters
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33% in Cornwall
EXCLUSIVE by our Brussels correspondent • The European Parliament is poised to reject the Commission's plan to add electronic black boxes to truck tachographs because it does not go far enough.
Florus Wijsenbeek, the Dutch MEP in charge of drafting the European Parliament's response, says: "What we really need is something which would monitor both driving time and working hours. There will be considerable amendments."
The European haulage industry would have to spend 422.3bn on buying and installing the new black boxes—and then operators would have to spend £275m a year on equipment, claims the International Road Transport Union. The Commission's plan is also getting a cool reception, both from Brussels lobbyists and EU Governments.
Germany and the UK fear that the black boxes are not tamperproof. France, which takes over the presidency of the Council of Ministers next month, is leading opposition to the proposal supported by Spain and the Netherlands.
The EU Transport Unions Committee is not enthusiastic about the plan and the IRV says: "We are not against black boxes, but they will only mini Tachographs: mally improve a system which is no good at all."
0 Commissioner Manuel Mann has announced a series of technical studies to see if in-motion truck weighing equipment could be incorporated into tachographs. Cabotage rights make it very difficult to monitor trucks and verify their loads", he says.