Prepare to prove trailer ownership
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• A Manchester operator is advising other international hauliers to carry trailer ownership certificates after one of his drivers was handcuffed following a row at the German border,
Last week border police stopped an artic operated by Manchester-based MBF Express Freight European as it entered the country at Suben and demanded to see the trailer's registration document. When the driver explained that the UK has no official trailer registration scheme a row erupted and the driver alleges he was assaulted.
As trailer ownership could not be confirmed, the driver was delayed for most of the day before being allowed back into Austria.
MBF owner Mike Flynn says the vehicle eventually returned to Germany after the Vehicle Inspectorate issued it with a Certificate of Keeper form. Even then, says Flynn, the Germans only reluctantly accepted the faxed form rather than the original. "It's crazy," he adds. "It's not as if we've done anything illegal." He believes the UK should either introduce a proper registration scheme or get international acceptance that no such scheme exists.
L Certificate of Keeper documents for trailers cost £20 from the Vehicle Inspectorate at Swansea; phone 01792 454301.