W. German checks
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A MASSIVE series of spot checks on lorries by West German Autobahn police lest month resulted In 3,000 vehicles being stopped — and almost 1,000 of them were found to be breaking the law.
There was no escape for the drivers — from all EEC countries — who tried to use their CB radios to warn colleagues about the controls. Drivers who tried to avoid the check points in the Stuttgart area by leaving the Autobahn found police patrols were waiting at all the exits.
The police were backed up by a battery of legal and scientific experts to interpret the complicated laws dealing with hygiene and safety.
The cases that came to light included: A Dutch driver who had sat 17 hours non-stop at the wheel of a chemical tanker — and faced another 10 hours driving in order to reach his destination.
"An absolute record," said the police, taking away the ignition key: A lorry load of pigs whose ears had been slashed with a clasp knife to keep them quiet on the journey. The driver admitted that he wanted to avoid the cost of Injections. Another vehicle was loaded with live chickens and foodstuffs (strictly forbidden under Germany's hygiene laws). Police ordered bread and sausages worth £600 to be destroyed.
One firm faced prosecution because police found their vehicles had been used in turn to transport plastic material and milk powder — another hygiene offence.
More than 400 drivers and hauliers were charged with a wide variety of offences. The remainder escaped with a warning.
Later some angry hauliers complained the police had used "wild west methods," but Stuttgart police chief Edward Sturm intends to make more spot checks. He said: "What we have seen so far is only the tip of an iceberg."