Taking your lorry abroad
Page 37
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9: Spain and Yugoslavia
1RITISH operators — both hire and evvard and own-account — require iermits from the DoE's International load Freight Office in Newcastle, for nost traffics to, from or in transit through ;pain. They are permitted to enter Spain vith an empty vehicle only after they lave received permission in writing from he Ministerior de Obres Publicas, )ireccion General de Transportes errestres, (Transportesnternationales), Avda del Generalisirno .i/n, 4a planta, Madrid, Spain, Tel. Madrid ?53-5600, Telex 22325-Minop-E. Back oading is confined to certain provinces 3 nd an operator may only accept a return oad from the province of unloading, any orovince which is on its direct route oetween the Spanish point of entry and :he discharging point, or any province mmediately adjoining either the Anioading province or one on the direct 'oute. Cabotage is prohibited.
Permits are also required for trailers or semi-trailers drawn abroad by "foreign" tractors and in view of the French nterpretation, (CM Nov 22), it might be orudent for Spanish tractors drawing 3ritish trailers to be regarded as foreign :rectors. There are sufficient Spanish oerm its to meet the needs of UK operators but, for traffic passing through :ranee, a French quota permit is required. ihere are now additional quota permits available and operators may find the oosition easing somewhat in 1975. -lowever, difficulties can still be overcome by using a French road/rail Iuota permit or travelling direct to Spain )y ferry, omplicated system
Spanish permits are normally available for two months from the date of issue and the journey record sheet, which is attached to the permit, must be completed in respect of the journey made under cover of that permit. Operators using vehicles of 16 tons gvw and over require a special permit which is valid for any number of journeys for one year after the date of issue.
The Spanish permit system is perhaps the most complex in Europe because, in addition to normal quota and special oermits, vehicles which exceed the maximum lengths set by the Spanish traffic code require an extra special permit. The maximum dimensions are, for rigid two-axle vehicles, 11 metres; rigid three-axle vehicles, 12 metres; buses and coaches, 12 metres; articulated vehicles, 16.5 metres; and rig ids with drawbars, 18 metres.
Applications for these extra permits have to be made to the Ministerio de Obras Publicos in Madrid and must carry a sketch of the side and rear view of the loaded vehicle. In every case, the maximum height limit is 4 metres and the width 2.5 metres. It is advisable, when applying for one of these special permits, to use the services of one of the following agencies: (The second agent can deal with requests in English): Pons, Department° de Transporte, Avda Jose Antonion 30 bis, Madrid.
Groupages Broemme S.A., San Bernardo 117, Madrid 8.
Applications should be with the agency three weeks before permits are required and should show the points of entry and exit in Spain, registration number of the vehicle, the UK plated weight of the vehicle, the unladen weight, number of axles, maximum dimensions of the vehicle and its gross weight for that journey, the name of the town where the vehicle is to be loaded and the Spanish town where it has to be discharged, the type of goods which the vehicle will carry on its way to Spain and the weight of the load. Also the type of goods to be carried on the return load and again the weight of the load.
The application should also state whether the operator is transporting the goods as own-account traffic or on behalf of another customer. Where an agency is not being used and the application for permits is made direct to Ministerio de Obras Publicas, then the application has to be made in Spanish. Applications should be accompanied by payment of 900 pesetas. There are 1 31 .25 pesetas to the pound. This amount will cover both the agent's fee and expenses.
At the Spanish frontier, drivers have to pay a compensation tax which varies with the tonnage and the length of journey inside Spain. This tax is to compensate the Spanish railways for the loss of traffic.
This compensation tax also varies according to the frontier post of entry, and ranges from about 25p a tonne to £3 a tonne. Entering at lrun for Pamplona, for instance, the tax is 29 pesetas, while entering at Port Bou for Coruna it is 385 pesetas per tonne.
To the Balkans
In the case of Yugoslavia, permits are required by British operators for accompanied traffic, whether for .hire and reward or own-account operations. Unaccompanied trailers or semi-trailers do not require a permit. As with some other European countries, a number of unlikely cargoes do not require a permit and in the case of vehicles with a laden weight not exceeding 6000kg, a permit is not required.
With a permit, British operators can carry to, from or in transit through Yugoslavia, pick up a back load there or enter the country with an empty vehicle for a load. They may also carry goods between Yugoslavia and a third country in either direction— but only after receiving permission from the Federal Secretariat for the Economy (Transport and Communications), Kneza Milosa 24, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, but they may not engage in cabotage.
Yugoslav permits are valid for six months but since operators will require to pass through either France and Italy or Germany, then Yugoslav permits can only be issued to operators in possession of permits for the transit countries, and an application for a Yugoslav permit should carry the serial numbers of the transit country permit. German road/rail permits are readily available and may well provide the solution for those operators who wish to travel across Germany to Yugoslavia (CM Nov 8). Vehicles covered by Yugoslav permits are not required to pay vehicle or transport taxes in Yugoslavia. Vehicles not covered by a permit are required to pay a transport tax calculated on the number of tonkilometres operated within Yugoslavia. This does not apply, however, to exempted vehicles.
The Series
THIS is the last in the series of articles Taking Your Lorry Abroad, based on information given in the Department of the Environment's IRF/OUT documents.
Past instalments in CM have been as follows: Initial checklist, October 11 issue; The main documents needed. October 18; Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, October 25; Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, November 1; West Germany, November 8; Hungary, November 15; Holland, Norway, Romania, Sweden, November 22.