TODAY: the EU ponders Austria-style fuel regulation (plus current fuel price roundup). Also, an intriguing route for this year’s Ennstal Classic, silly silent sirens are blamed for a cop crash in Madrid, the number of pets carried by Brittany Ferries jumps 25% as tragedy strikes Dover-Calais, Ultimate Drives recommends Route de Gentelly, a rundown of some useful Italian driving-related phrases, while Condor’s rescheduling goes on now until 26 August.

Central Europe continues to suffer extreme weather – south west Germany is under red alert for heavy rain until Tuesday evening while a flash storm is set to hit Italy.

NOTE: national holiday in Belgium today with road closures in central Brussels.

GIBRALTAR FRONTIER WATCH: delays built up to 2h30 at 16:15 local time before settling down.

TOUR DE FRANCE WATCH: rest day Carcassone.

CALAIS TRUCKS MIGRANTS PETITION: 2,004 signatures since 15.7. See @Justice4Trucker.

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EU PROMOTES AUSTRIA-STYLE FUEL PRICE REGULATION

€11bn hit on consumers prompts new approach.

Fuel in Austria is notably cheap but the price can vary considerably. As well as this random filling station photographed at Sillian on the Italian border on 26 June – €1.349/l diesel, €1.436 unleaded 95 (click photo to enlarge) – the price we paid for standard diesel that week ranged from €1.364 to €1.499. The most expensive was on the S16 expressway at Bludenz.

The success of fuel price regulation in Austria may see the model adopted across the rest of the Continent.

Since 2011, Austrian retailers have only been allowed to change prices once a day and all changes must be notified.

This increased price transparency has cut up to 2.5% off the price of diesel and 3.6% off the price of petrol says the European Commission’s Vehicle Fuels Market Report published earlier this month.

The Commission says it, ‘plans to promote this best practice among Member States in the coming period, as it has been shown to bring significant benefits to consumers.’

Vehicle fuels is the second most poorly performing market among the 21 surveyed says the report which also estimates drivers take an €11bn hit due to poor treatment at the hands of fuel companies.

This new approach has found some support in the UK. AA president Edmund King says, ‘Many drivers may actually welcome this bit of EU ‘nannying’ as a way to get a fair price at the pump.’

King says British drivers might also benefit from a price comparison website similar to the official French ‘Prix des Carburants’ which lists current fuel prices in all regions (note the prevalence of E10, 10% ethanol fuel in France).   

Meanwhile, the AA’s June 2014 European fuel price report sees Italy with the most expensive diesel and the Netherlands with the most expensive petrol (of the major holiday destinations). The cheapest, as ever, is Luxembourg. In ascending order. All prices in pence per litre.

Diesel: Luxembourg 96.24, Austria 103.45, Portugal 105.86, Spain 107.46, France 111.47, Germany 111.47, Belgium 117.89, Netherlands 121.10, Switzerland 121.25, Italy 133.93.

Unleaded 95: Luxembourg 109.07, Austria 109.87, Spain 115.48, Switzerland 117.29, France 123.50, Portugal 125.11, Germany 125.91, Belgium 134.73, Italy 143.55, Netherlands 149.17.

Keep up to date with daily fuel prices via Fuel Prices Europe.

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Porsche sent eleven cars from its Stuttgart museum to compete in this year’s Ennstal Classic, last weekend. The regularity test (timed, average speed stages) bills itself as ‘driving like 50 years ago’, for cars built before 31.12.72. It’s based in the Alp’s Tauren range in central Austria, starting and finishing each day in Grobming in the Enns Valley. The organisers are tight with the precise route, as ever, but the day one 400km Geolyth-Prologue heads south to take in the high Nockalm Road and Red Bull Ring (and probably the Katschberg Pass too). Meanwhile, the 500km 12-hour day two Marathon stage heads north, interestingly to Lunz am See in the mountains west of Vienna. This is way past all the usual blue riband mountain passes, the most easterly of which is Triebener Tauern near Liezen. We wonder what is so interesting out there??

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roundup: SPAIN. Watch out in Madrid. Emergency vehicle’s so-called ‘silent sirens’- used to combat noise pollution – are blamed for causing a crash between a police car and private car. The sirens cannot be heard with the windows up and radio on says thelocal.es. PETS ABROAD. The number of pets carried by Brittany Ferries has grown by 25% since the pet passport regulations were changed in 2012, to 55,000 last year. It’s no longer unusual to take your pet to the Continent says the western channel UK-France-Spain operator. See BF’s pet friendly page here, including inclusive pet friendly accommodation on the boat and in Spain, France and Portugal. Meanwhile however, a dog carried on the Dover-Calais route died apparently from heat exposure last Friday. Regulations common to all three short crossing carriers say pets must be kept inside vehicles for the journey. The resulting petition has reported gained 5,000 signatures. It is not an isolated incident claim the organisers. GREAT ROADS tour organiser Ultimate Drives recommends the ‘picture perfect’ Route de Gentelly, the M2/D2 starting from Vence just west of Nice in the South of France. ITALY. ‘Qualcosa non va con i freni!’ means ‘there’s something wrong with the brakes!’ according to Italy magazine. See more handy car and driving related phrases here. CONDOR FERRIES. Following the grounding incident en-route to Guernsey last Wednesday, it has now announced repairs to the Commodore Clipper are more ‘complex’ than thought originally and the ship will now be out of action until 26 August. The company says it can accommodate all passengers with extra sailings on its high speed sailings, plus a new freight charter, details to be announced. Read the full statement here.

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TODAY: examining the inevitable bureaucracy behind the upcoming German ‘foreigner vignette’, and catching up with the Land Rover/RGS bursary winners who are driving around the Alps.

GIBRALTAR FRONTIER WATCH: a brief build up at 11:15 else quiet so far today.

TOUR DE FRANCE WATCH: today Tallard to Nimes.

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GERMAN TRAMP STAMP FIDDLY TO BUY

If the Umwelt Zone badge is anything to go by the upcoming ‘foreigner vignette’ will be laborious and probably expensive to get hold of.

All smiles: the Italian (l) and German transport ministers meet in Rome, in part to discuss the upcoming German ‘foreigner vignette’. See below.

Costing ‘only’ €10 for ten days, €20 for two months and ‘around’ €100 per year, the up-coming German foreigner vignette has left many shrugging their shoulders. It’s a price worth paying to access the fastest roads in the world seems to be the general consensus.

Leaving aside the potential for that price to shoot up – the Germans are not known for underselling – in reality, the cost is only half of the story.

The key feature of the vignette that is likely to see it duck past Brussels regulators is that the price depends on a car’s emissions. This was tacitly acknowledged in the report by an Innsbruck University EU law professor published ahead of the meeting between the German and Austrian transport ministers last week.

But whereas the flat fee charged for the Austrian vignette, for instance, means drivers can pick one up when refuelling at or around the border, the emissions differentiation of the German vignette will add layers of bureaucracy.

Consider the existing system to get hold of the environmental badge needed to access the Umwelt ‘low emission’ zones in most German towns and cities which also varies on a car’s emissions.

To apply from abroad drivers have to fill in a form at Umwelt-plakette, print and sign, and post it off along with the car’s registration papers and the €40 fee.

They promise to process the order within 3-5 working days. If you need it faster, and apply before 13:00 Monday to Friday, there’s a same-day service for an extra €29. There’s also a Monday-Saturday anytime same-day service at €58.

True, drivers can avoid that hassle by applying in person at a TUV (MOT) office. But, despite vague noises it will be available at petrol stations and border points, up until now there are only concrete plans to sell the German foreigner vignette over the internet.

Furthermore, unlike the Austrian vignette which applies just to motorways, there won’t be any way to avoid the German equivalent – drivers will need it to drive on any road in Germany.

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Meanwhile. Despite widespread criticism that the foreigner vignette is discriminatory, the European Commission is predisposed to the idea because it endorses an (important to them) principle: that road users should pay extra to maintain and upgrade roads.

That, anyway, has been the Commission’s attitude up until now, the transport section headed by the soon-to-retire Siim Kallas, a man known for being non-interventionist.

Clearly, that could all change with the new Commission. With Brussels insiders unsure about who will get even the top jobs, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the either of the two countries most opposed to the foreigner vignette – the Netherlands and Austria – will get the transport brief.

However, that’s unlikely to be a scenario that hasn’t occurred to the dynamic and determined German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt whose political future apparently depends on the success of the vignette (if he pulls it off, as he will, might we see him in the top job one day?)

Straight after his uncomfortable meeting with the Austrian transport minister Doris Bures in Vienna on Tuesday, Dobrint headed to Rome to meet his Italian counterpart Maurizio Lupi (above, left).

The Italians inherited the six month presidency of the EU on 1 July and transport is a key priority, specifically completing the single market in transport – which will raise eyebrows in the freight industry – and increasing investment in the strategic (TEN-T) road and rail network.

Also discussed was the vignette. Lupi says he asked to be, ‘kept informed of the evolution of this proposal, which has had important repercussions in Italy where the road transport sector has considerable weight’, but, the slightly bowed, Lupi hardly looks unhappy about it, does he?

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Grand Alpine Tour: the winners of this year’s Land Rover/Royal Geographical Society bursary cross a fjord yesterday on their way to the Bossons Glacier just west of the Mont Blanc Tunnel. Roads are few and far between in the area so their specially modified Defender’s enhanced all terrain ability no doubt comes in super-handy. The team, PhD researchers from Northumbria University, are spending over three months in the Alps surveying glaciers. As well as using hi-tec methods like, er, ‘Structure from Motion (SfM) Photogrammetry’ to map terrain via their own drone they will compare their results with historical material amassed, among others, by those on the original 19th century Grand Tours, hence the name of the expedition. The particular focus is on how and why retreating glaciers trigger rock falls, a poorly understood area until now. Fascinating stuff. See grandalpinetour.com for more, or @GrandAlpineTour

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NEWS: It didn’t take the European Commission long to revise its directive on prosecution of cross-border traffic offences. As it’s Day One of the British Summer Season, Channel crossings expected to be very busy. A surely unbeatable road trip rig was spotted in the wild yesterday.

GIBRALTAR FRONTIER WATCH: on/off delays of around 60mins during morning peak. IT meltdown at @GibraltarBorder since then but GBCNews reports delay of up to five hours this afternoon into Spain.

TOUR DE FRANCE WATCH: today St Etienne to Chamrousse.

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CROSS-BORDER FINES COMING SOON FOR ALL EU DRIVERS

European Commission in hasty rewrite of traffic offences directive.

Portuguese police prepare to burn speeding motorists. British, Irish and Danish drivers will soon be in their sights too.

The revised directive on cross border information sharing for traffic offences has been published already.

It will mean drivers from the UK, Ireland and Denmark can be fined at home for traffic offences committed in other European countries.

Currently, drivers from those countries have to be caught red handed to be fined or prosecuted.

EU member states, plus Switzerland and Norway, have until 6 May 2015 to put the new law into effect.

In May, the European Commission successfully challenged the legal basis on which the original directive had been implemented.

The original measure came under ‘police co-operation’ and allowed the UK, Ireland and Denmark to opt out. The revised rules, implemented as a road safety measure, mean it must apply to all EU and EEA countries without exception.

Eight offences are covered: speeding; not using a seatbelt; running a red light or other stop signal; drink driving; driving under the influence of drugs; not wearing a helmet (motorcyclists); using a forbidden lane (bus lane, emergency lane, etc); and using a mobile phone while driving.

The UK Department for Transport told @DriveEurope in May it was studying the implications of May’s ruling and would make a decision on the next step ‘in due course’.

Read the full directive here. 

Update 23 July: we did ask the DfT for comment but they have yet to respond. Meanwhile, the European police federation TISPOL, and other road safety groups, have called for the introdcution of the new directive to be accelerated.

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Spotted on the road yesterday by Mr Malibu, @MalibuInfo. The bar is now super-high kids. That isn’t any old Porsche Boxster either but a rare Boxster Spyder. The prize for best kitted out and co-ordinated European road trip is on the verge of being handed out already unless someone thinks they can beat this??

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TODAY: The International Road Transport Union calls on the European Commission to stop countries imposing massive new weekly rest fines.

Plus, Luxembourg is told to raise its fuel taxes, flooding blocks roads on the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria, central east Brussels is blocked off this afternoon for an EU summit, drivers are warned to avoid Amsterdam this weekend, fatal accidents rise significantly on German autobahns and new environmentally friendly crash barriers are installed in a park in Portugal. Also, today’s trip tip, the Porsche 911’s digital speedo switches to read in kilometres per hour. Yours might too.

And, a roundup of recent news and views on driving in France, including new fuel that could damage your engine.

GIBRALTAR FRONTIER WATCH: another quiet day with delays peaking at 30mins at 18:00.

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IRU CALLS ON EU TO STOP MASSIVE NEW WEEKLY REST FINES

Says countries flout law to protect domestic firms.

The Mercedes-Benz New Actros cabin. Manufacturers spend millions to develop comfortable living space for drivers. Will they still need to bother? Photo via @MercedesBenz

The International Road Transport Union (IRU) is calling on the European Commission and other authorities to stop countries imposing ‘disproportionate’ fines for drivers’ hour’s offences.

As of last Friday, 11 July, France imposed a €30,000 fine and a year’s imprisonment for drivers spending weekly rest periods inside their vehicles. Belgium has a similar law though the fine is €1,800. The Netherlands and Sweden have also recently tightened up their regulations.

The countries claim the new rules are an attempt to tackle ‘social dumping’, where foreign firms undercut local providers with lower labour standards. Some drivers, predominantly from Eastern Europe, are alleged to spend weeks and months effectively living in their vehicles to reduce costs.

However, the IRU says the countries involved are just using the law to protect their domestic firms which would be against EU rules.

IRU General Delegate to the EU, Michael Nielsen, says, ‘As EU legislation is unclear on weekly rest time in vehicle cabins and the fact that the EU does not consider it to be a serious infringement, these announced penalties are completely unacceptable. Member States need clear EU legislation and should enforce this in an efficient, non-discriminatory way through penalties that are proportionate to the level of infringement committed.’

The statement goes on to say, ‘The IRU views this as an indication that Member States are increasingly using enforcement to protect their national markets – practices which completely go against every principle of EU law.’

The new rules have proved controversial with drivers, many of whom have routinely slept in their cabs for weekly rest periods abroad for many years. One told @DriveEurope this week, ‘Well it looks like I’d better buy a tent!!! Cos that will be so much more safer and comfy.’

We have contacted the European Commission and are waiting for a response.

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Also, the Dutch FNV union has reportedly made a formal complaint to the Transport Ministry over foreign drivers subcontracted to a major furniture retailer via an employment agency. The workers are allegedly paid just €420 per month, plus €1,300 ‘expenses’, compared to the €3,000 per month salary of an experienced local driver. The union also claims the drivers spend ‘weeks if not months’ living in their cabs.

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A Porsche 911 Turbo S on a UK-Stuttgart road trip to mark the company’s involvement in the FIA World Endurance Championship. More at fiawec.com. That’s 130kmh by the way, the 911’s speedo switches to read in kilometers per hour. Does yours?

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roundup: AMSTERDAM. Major road works on the A10 ring road mean drivers are advised to avoid the city this weekend. Meanwhile the Piet Hein tunnel in the east is closed until 1 August for resurfacing work. LUXEMBOURG. The International Energy Agency has told Luxembourg to raise its famously low fuel taxes. A new IEA report says that, despite some progress, the Duchy is in danger of missing its Kyoto + EU emissions targets and that the low taxes ‘send the wrong message’. Unleaded 95 is selling for €1.362/l today, and diesel €1.192, 50c and 30c respectively lower than the neighbouring Netherlands, for instance, according to Fuel Prices Europe. GERMANY. Fatal autobahn accidents rose by over ten percent last year even as the overall figures fell reports the ETSC European Transport Safety Council. Furthermore, deaths are apparently 25% higher on derestricted sections than those with speed limits.

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New wood-effect crash barrier have been installed at the Tagus National Park in Portugal by French supplier roadis.fr. Also available in grass.

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FRANCE. The Dutch @ANWB motoring club warns drivers that standard pump petrol these days is likely to be E10 – 10% ethanol – rather than the usual Euro95 (5% ethanol). E10 is unsuitable for some cars, even relatively recent models. If in doubt buy the – more expensive – Super Plus 98 instead. Meanwhile the price difference between motorway and local fuel can be as much as 12c per litre for diesel warns This Is French Life quoting an expose by consumer watchdog CLCV. It warns against filling up at stations on motorways in the Meuse, Marne, Loire, Corrèze or Franche-Comté. The Daily Telegraph’s Antony Peregrine comes up with some handy tips on driving in France including the good value CroqMalin menu available in service stations. Join Us in France have also released a podcast on the same subject. Finally, the French govt is aiming to help its auto makers steal a march on international competitors by allowing self-driving cars on the road as early as next year says The Connexion.

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NEWS: Austria says it will exhaust all legal channels in the fight against the German ‘foreigner vignette’ but is unlikely to able to prevent or delay its introduction.

Plus, a drive-in check-in high in the Austrian Alps, two Danish traffic police are accused of ripping off tourists, Transalpina IS open for drivers this year, a truck driver has started a Number 10 petition to tackle the migrant situation at Calais, a heart warming story from a Cyprus filling station, another scrap at the Bulgaria-Turkey border, Helsinki plans to make cars obsolete, and the European Transport Safety Council takes umbrage at two reports which do not recommend mandatory alcolocks for professional drivers.

GIBRALTAR FRONTIER WATCH: delays built up to an estimated three hours early afternoon before quickly settling down to around 30mins. Quiet morning and evening.

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AUSTRIA LEGAL ACTION CANNOT DELAY GERMAN ‘FOREIGNER VIGNETTE’

European Court cases can only be brought after new law is on the books and EU has had its say.

Austrian transport minister Doris Bures. Pic via bmvit.gv.at

Austria says it will take Germany to the European Court over the ‘foreigner vignette’ though any case cannot delay or prevent the scheme’s introduction.

The respective transport ministers Doris Bures and Alexander Dobrindt met in Vienna today specifically to discuss the new toll. The meeting was described as ‘cordial but determined’.

At a press conference afterwards Dobrindt told Austrian TV channel ATV that, ‘We stick to our plans’.

Meanwhile, Bures said she would ‘exhaust all legal channels’ in the fight against the vignette, telling journalists, ‘For me this is a question of fairness and justice, both are non-negotiable. It’s my job to make sure Austrian motorists are not discriminated against.’

It emerged that Austria can only bring a case to the ECJ when the ‘foreigner vignette’ is on German law books and the European Commission has raised no objections. It is by no means certain the EC will object. Any legal action after that is likely to take eighteen months according to reports.

Dobrint published his plans earlier this month. The legislation will be debated in the German parliament after the summer break and is due to come into effect in 2016.

The meeting coincided with a new report by European Law expert Walter Obwexer at the University of Innsbruck. Obwexer says the coupling of the vignette and the corresponding cut in motoring taxes for German drivers made it ‘indirect discrimination on grounds of nationality’. However he also says it would be legal if it could be justified on environmental grounds, for instance.

The two transport ministers meet again in the autumn.

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The ultimate road trip luxury: a wood-panelled parking garage and drive in check in at the InterAlpen-Hotel Tyrol in Austria. Nobody would go to a hotel just because it had a drive in check in but, being 1200m up on the Seefeld high plateau just south of the German border, west of Innsbruck, means Interalpen has lots of other advantages. Rooms from €207. See interalpen.com for more. Via Sara Nase, @getpalmd.

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roundup: DENMARK. Two traffic police have been charged with corruption according to local reports. The two are alleged to have pocketed on-the-spot fines taken from tourists. The case is described as unusual and ‘unDanish’. ROMANIA. After some tooing and froing, national roads admin CNADR says the Transalpina high altitude road is open for drivers this year. The road has found itself in limbo after the construction company charged with its renovation went bust amid a financial scandal earlier this year with work left incomplete. There is still confusion however over whether just the southern portion – between Bengesti and Ranca – is open though Evo’s Henry Catchpole had no trouble evading the signs on a visit last year. CALAIS. Truckers concerned about the migrant’s camp at Calais have launched a Number 10 petition. Drivers frequently find themselves swamped with so-called ‘clandestines’ as they wait for ferries. As well as safety worries over the increasingly desperate ways in which the migrants attempt to conceal themselves in and around vehicles, drivers are also concerned about the massive fines (£10,000+) they can incur for facilitating illegal entry into the UK. They want increased security at Calais and some leeway from the authorities. Read the full story in Commercial Motor, and/or sign the petition here. Meanwhile, thelocal.fr reports the number of migrants arrested at Calais has doubled so far this year with 7,000 taken into custody in the six months to June. CYPRUS. Heart-warming story about a petrol station owner spending hours searching for a customer who paid €20 too much for fuel. It happens a lot apparently: one person pays the attendant at the pump while the other pays inside the shop. BULGARIA-TURKEY. More trouble at the (main) Kapitan Andreevo border point after scrap dealers blocked the road way in a row over new rules, again. The same thing happened yesterday. Private persons are no longer allowed to sell scrap to licenced companies reports Novinite. Kalotina has been affected but not blocked. FINLAND. Capital Helsinki will render cars obsolete by 2025 with a new system of public, shared and on-demand transport, all booked by smartphone, ‘so cheap, flexible and well co-ordinated it competes with cars on cost, convenience and ease of use’ reports the Guardian. ALCOHOL. Two new reports are ‘supportive of further measures to boost the use of alcohol interlocks in passenger and goods vehicles in the EU but stop short of recommending mandatory use on cost grounds’. That’s short sighted says the ETSC, European Transport Safety Council.

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BREAKING NEWS from Condor Ferries: ‘This afternoon 14/7/14 Commodore Clipper is believed to have made contact with the bottom in the Small Russell en route to Guernsey. Clipper is now safely alongside in St Peter Port. All passengers and crew are safe and there are no injuries. Commodore Clipper services are suspended for 24hrs pending a dive to investigate any damage. Passengers due to travel from Guernsey to Jersey or to Portsmouth tonight are being contacted by our customer services team to rearrange travel. Fast ferries continue to operate as does Commodore Goodwill. Where possible guests are being offered alternative transport to the UK.’

TODAY: a truck ban in France, a pedestrianized Champs Elysee, and busy roads this evening after national holiday ‘Bastille Day’, see below. 

Plus, more on the Oresund Link’s new self raising speed bumps; a crunch meeting between the Germans and Austrians on the ‘foreigner vignette’, the first ever left hand drive driving lessons, a new truck toll starts in Latvia, and more roads are shortly to be included in the Belarus road toll network.

GIBRALTAR FRONTIER WATCH: hovered around 30mins mid-afternoon, quiet before and since.

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ORESUND ACTIVE SPEED BUMPS

60mm hole delivers ‘physical reminder to slow down’.

Sweden has the safest roads in the world* so any new initiatives deserve the benefit of the doubt.

However, eyebrows are raised – here, at least – over the recent introduction of ‘active speed bumps’ on the Oresund Link between Sweden and Denmark. The devices were installed on the lanes from Sweden in the spring.

Developed by Linkoping-based Edeva AB, called ‘Actibump’, a wide plate in the roadway drops by 60mm whenever a speeding vehicle is detected. It gives the driver ‘a physical reminder to slow down’.

The maker claims many benefits over the static, raised ‘speed humps’ in widespread use across the Continent. Vehicles under the speed limit pass unhindered meaning more comfortable journeys for bus passengers, for instance, and less wear and tear generally. Emergency vehicles carry transponders to disable the system while the bumps can be easily avoided by two-wheeled vehicles. Meanwhile, Actibump collects data on traffic levels.

The company has received press coverage in Germany, Spain, Finland, Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Serbia though it is not known if the system has been installed elsewhere.

Apart from the costs and emissions due it being electric powered – not an issue in cheap hydropower Sweden – the issue surely is the significant jolt it causes, akin to a 6cm deep pothole, and the potential for tyre damage, especially since the speed limit on the Oresund Bridge is 110kmh (and 90kmh in the tunnel).

There are no reports of Actibump causing any problems. We contacted Edeva to set our minds at rest by they are on holiday until 6 August. Will update.

UPDATE 15 July: Edeva AB managing director David Eskilsson tells @DriveEurope, ‘The edge of the “artificial pothole” has a smooth radius and will not damage tyres. After four years in traffic in the municipality of Linköping we have had no damage claims. The system is designed to give the driver a wake-up call, not damage the vehicle.’

He adds the company is currently looking to appoint a European sales agent and expects to make its first export order later this year.

* In 2013 there were 28 road deaths per million inhabitants in Sweden putting it at the top of EU and world wide road safety tables. The UK was just behind on 29 road deaths per million inhabitants.

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A graphic from @Previtrafic showing the expected traffic levels later today in France as drivers return home after the long ‘Bastille Day’ weekend. The red sections are the busiest, a step down from black, the worst possible. UPDATE 18:00 – no sign of raised traffic levels in France so far at all today…

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roundup: GERMANY. The man behind the ‘foreigner vignette’ is to meet his Dutch and Austrian counterparts tomorrow to discuss the issue. The Austrian TranMin Doris Bures says a European Court case will follow if no solution is found. DRIVING. A company in south London is offering driving lessons in left hand drive vehicles to make people more confident driving hire cars on the Continent. See www.skyscanner.net. LATVIA. Trucks 3.5t+ have to pay a toll to use the main state roads since 1 July. It does not apply to heavy motorhomes. See www.lvvignette.eu for more. The toll is paid via the internet and stored electronically; no need to carry any documents. It costs from €8 per day up to €400 per year for Euro IV and above. BELARUS. From 1 August another 256km of highways will be included in the digital road toll system. Sections of the M5 Minsk-Gomel, M6 Minsk-Grodno, M7 Minsk–Lithuania and R1 Minsk-Dzerzhinsk will come under the scheme which will then include 1,189km of roads. See beltoll.by for more.

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