1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160 
Toll protest stops traffic
Page 16
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• German hauliers have staged a protest against the introduction of the German road toll system for trucks, due to come into force later this month.
Last week, nine hauliers from Mich near Cologne demonstrated the pitfalls of the system: 13 drivers parked their 40-tonners in front of an urban petrol station to get a ticket from one of the toll terminals, 3,500 of which have been installed across Germany. After five minutes the traffic had come to a standstill, and 45 minutes later the local police stopped the demonstration.
Although the German government and Toll Collect insist that the requested 150,000 on-board units (OBUS) will be installed in time for the start of the toll, the German equivalent of the RHA, the Bundesamt fur Giiterverkehr (BAG), has its doubts. The BAG will only give its approval to the system after an independent expert's report has confirmed a successful twomonth trial. But since the system is not running properly at the moment, there can't be a trial.
Germany plans to replace the current paperbased Eurovignette scheme with advanced charging technology for trucks on 31August. Rather than having blanket commercial vehicle coverage—as planned in the UK—the German government will only target HG'. s above 12 tonnes on its autobahns, which will pay about o€0.15/km (15p/mile). (CM6-12 Feb.) • See offer on page 7 for free information on the German toll system In conjunction with the HA.