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Is this cabotage?
Page 34
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I am an owner-oriver working out of ports such as Felixstowe and have noticed drivers arriving from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Holland who park the trailer they have delivered and then pick up another one for delivery elsewhere in the UK.
Do they need cabotage permits to do this work, if they tip in Scotland, for example? I suspect many do not have permits and that regulations are not being enforced.
They are undercutting local drivers. I recently spoke to a Dutch driver who was working for 80p a mile, whereas around £1.30 is normal. He told me he was doing the work tax free!
Robert Warren Leicester
All the countries you refer to are now part of the expanded EU and all of them are therefore entitled to carry out cabotage, providing ills on a temporary basis.
If they wish to set up an operation in the UK with vehicles based in the UK they would he obliged to apply for a UK operator's licence. If, on the other hand, they simply perform, from time to time, journeys from a UK pickup point to a UK destination point in the context of an otherwise international operation then, providing they have a community authorisation on their own country's 0licence, it is lawful.
It is up to the authorities to look at a particular operation and decide if it is in breach of the principle of temporary use in the UK.
If you are concerned about these operators there is no harm in you contacting VOSA (0117 954 3200) and asking them to explore the position, particularly if you feel it is illegal.