Wife to the rescue • A Colchester owner-driver whose truck
Page 13
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
was wrongly impounded in Italy for 15 days had to get his wife and their friend to drive out and rescue him after diplomatic negotiations failed.
Andy Watson was handed a two-week driving ban after entering Italy with a broken tachograph (cM 26 Mar-1 Apr). But only the day before a French policeman had signed the back of his chart and allowed him to continue.
Before impounding his confiscating his the Italian police "That's European truck and paperwork, told Watson law, but you're in Italy!" After explanations and pleas for clemency failed, the DOT could only advise Watson to hire a driver to come and collect him and the vehicle—the driving ban only applies in Italy.
Watson has calculated that this incident has cost him £4,340 including loss of earnings for a week, the £580 fine and the £260 expenses for his wife and friend to drive to Italy.
"For a one-man band that's a hell of a lot of money to lose," he says—and he has no plans to return to the Continent until he is convinced that European law has been made consistent.