Spanish check warning
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• Drivers are warned to he on their guard in Spain after a Yorkshire-based haulier was stopped and fined £50 for what the Department of Transport has agreed was a non-existent hours offence.
John Peel, whose family owns three-vehicle Peel Haulage of Pickhill, Thirsk, was stopped on the A2 in Zaragoza in a routine check at Pino De Ebro Peaje on 16 April.
"The Spanish traffic officer said I had committed the offence of driving 12 hours in a 24-hour period," Peel says. "The fine is 40,000 pesetas, but I had an interpreter there, who got it down to 10,000 pesetas (k.50)."
On his return to the UK, Peel checked his tacho with the Department of Transport, which confirmed that no offence had been committed. Peel's mother Doreen says the DOT told him "not to hold his breath for compensation".
Road Haulage Association controller of international affairs Mike Freeman says he has a dozen Spanish cases on his files from the past year.
"The great problem is that the Spanish, like the French, impound immediately if a fine is not paid," he says. "Appealing against a fine you have already paid can take years." Freeman advises drivers who run into problems in Spain to contact the nearest consulate.
Staff may not be able to intervene, but they can at least translate.
Once back in the UK, write to the DOT's Freight and Road Haulage Division, 76 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DR, phone 0171 271 4800.