Winter maintenance on Lac du Mont Cenis reveals the original pass road and border post.

Also, Oberalppass and Splugen kick off the summer mountain driving season. Swiss police overreact to Iceland sticker on Belgian car. Russian foreign truck tolls to double. Fatigue blamed for deaths of three British family members killed on French autoroute.

.

OLD ROAD EXPOSED COL DU MONT CENIS

Winter maintenance reveals original pass road and border post.

The normally submerged original pass road and bridge across the France-Italy border on Col du Mont Cenis. Photo Les Hydros du Mont Cenis, see below.

The lake at the top of D1006 Col du Mont Cenis 2083m has been drained for winter maintenance.

Lac du Mont Cenis is an artificial storage lake feeding two hydroelectric power plants. 

Col du Mont Cenis is the scenic mountain bypass of the Chambery-Turin Frejus Tunnel across the France-Italy border.

It is toll free compared to the one-way charge at Frejus of €43.50 for a standard car (or €54.30 return if coming back within seven days).

The lake is due to be refilled on Friday (29 April) but in the meantime, the original dam and water works dating from 1921 are exposed as well as – particularly – the bridge for the original pass road and customs house which marked the old border.

Sadly, mere mortals won’t get to see it since the pass won’t open until 1 May at the earliest.

However, see Les Hydros du Mont Cenis Facebook page for more extraordinary photos.

Also see PassFinder for more mountain roads, Peter Nunn‘s photos of driving Mont Cenis or below for more on mountain road summer openings.

.

2048m Oberalppass east from Andermatt near Gotthard in south central Switzerland opened on schedule on Wednesday with the first-drive films already posted on YouTube. Meanwhile, 2188m Splugen Pass, above, which marks the border of the West and East Alps Switzerland-Italy, opened on Saturday, a couple of days later than expected. The next lot of high passes start to open on Sunday 1 May. However, with fresh deep snow over the weekend on its recently cleared roads, doubts remain about Stelvio, normally open in early May. Photo @ValtellinaTweet. See more at PassFinder.

.

roundup: REGISTRATION PLATES. An extraordinary tale of a Belgian couple stopped by Swiss police for displaying an ‘IS’ sticker on the back of their car. The pair are regular visitors to Iceland and bought the sticker on-board the Smyril Line ferry reports Iceland Review. They were eventually able to persuade the armed officers the sticker was not a sly reference to the Islamist group. However, despite realising their mistake, the police reportedly insisted the sticker was covered up before they were allowed to drive away. RUSSIA. The fee for all foreign freight vehicles has doubled reports Moscow Times. The annual fee rises to 120,000RUB (£1250) and the daily fee to 850RUB (£8.80) for vehicles 3.5-12t (trucks 12t+ pay the Platon electronic road toll). The rises are in response to depreciation of the Russian ruble says RT.com. FRANCE. three members of a British family including two children were killed in an accident early this morning on the A39 southbound between Dijon and Bourg en Bresse in eastern France according to Le Parisien. The deceased include a 10 year old boy, a four year old girl and their 31 year old father. The mother and another child survived and were taken to hospital in Lyon. Apparently no other vehicle was involved. Initial reports blame driver fatigue.

.

Member states making up their own rules on international freight threatens the single market says EU Commissioner ahead of new ‘Road Initiatives’. The UK is apparently also now in trouble over the same issue.

Also, several states not taking part in today’s German ‘Speed Blitz’. A new ‘energy gum’ aimed specifically at drivers. Migrants in nightly trouble at Calais. A sparkling start to the year for Eurotunnel.

.

MEMBER STATE FREIGHT RULES THREATEN SINGLE MARKET

Commissioner blasts new freight rules popping up around the Continent.

European Commission Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc. Photo @Bulc_EU

Member States making their own rules on freight transport endangers the single market says the EU Transport Commissioner.

Violeta Bulc was speaking at a conference in Brussel on Tuesday ahead of new EU ‘Road Initiatives’ due in the summer.

She told the conference, ‘Unfortunately, we are seeing a tendency in Member States to implement their own rules. Different rules in different countries are problematic for transport operators who very often operate in several countries on a daily basis. This may endanger the single market. Operators have to keep track of all these different rules in order to be compliant and to avoid fines. This is not what we envisaged as an internal market.’

Her comments come after France followed Germany last week in announcing a new minimum wage rule for truck drivers on its territory.

There has also been recent controversy over new interpretations on double-manning rest times in France, and a ban on drivers spending weekly rest periods in their vehicles in several countries.

The ‘Road Initiatives’ are expected to simplify the rules governing international transport and hence make them easier to enforce.

Delegates were in broad agreement though it is not clear how well one potential proposal will be received, to move to purely time-based ‘cabotage’ rules instead of the current ‘three jobs in seven days’ in another member state.

Another popular idea was an EU ‘Road Transport Agency’ to police the sector, pushed particularly hard by the IRU (formerly the International Road Transport Union).

However, the Commission has previously been resistant and it was not mentioned in the conference summing up by Director-General for Mobility and Transport Henrik Hololei.

Update 22 April: the European Commission is reportedly launching an infringement case against the UK over its ‘HGV User Levy’, which is effectively paid only by foreign trucks. News magazine Der Spiegel says the Commission wrote to German Transport minister Alexander Dobrindt earlier this month to say the UK had failed to allay its doubts about the toll introduced in 2014 (see also Reuters). Dobrindt is currently embroiled in a dispute with the Commission over his ‘foreigner maut’, a proposed road toll which will effectively only be paid by visiting drivers. Like the UK scheme, German drivers will be rebated the charge through vehicle taxes. The Commission publishes its next Infringement Package on Thursday 28 April.

.

It was thought the migrant crisis would see German police so stretched they couldn’t stage the ’24h Blitz Marathon’ anti-speed campaign this year. But evidently the manpower has been scraped together – though the action ends at 22:00 and doesn’t include several large regions, notably Baden Wurttemberg in the south west, Niedersachsen and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern across the north and the regions to the west of Frankfurt according to ADAC. Last year, of the 3.2 million drivers controlled, more than 90,000 got tickets. The ‘Blitz Marathon’ is now in its fourth year and is part of European police federation TISPOL’s ‘Speed Marathon’ campaign taking place across Europe this week.

.

roundup: LONG DISTANCE. ‘Energy gums’ are not new but a new brand aimed at drivers is hoping to see the market finally expand much like it has done for Red Bull-style energy drinks. Italian firm Functional Gums has just signed a new retail deal in Spain for its Drive Gum, available in Italy since August 2013. The maker says the product’s lower caffeine content is key according to Confectionary News. Each 25mg piece is equivalent to a half espresso shot – an entire 12–piece pack comes in at 300mg, much less than the 400mg recommended as a safe daily amount in the US. Driver fatigue is a problem. Up to one fifth of accidents on motorways and other monotonous types of roads may be caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel says the UK DfT Department for Transport, with men aged 18-30 most likely to succumb late at night. ‘All drivers who fall asleep at the wheel have a degree of warning,’ continues the DfT – maybe one of them is the need for an energy drink, or gum. CALAIS MIGRANT CRISIS. ‘Everyone pretends everything is fine in Calais, but it’s just not true. I’m choosing my words here, but the situation is still a hell of a mess,’ said Gilles Debove of the SGP Police-Force Ouvriere union to AFP. His comments come after migrants blocked the N216/A216 port access road early on Tuesday morning. Such incidents have become common over the past month, as reported last week, after a period of calm. A pattern has emerged since the height of the migrant trouble last summer: police re-establish control only to let their guard down some weeks later. Concerns are now being raised ahead of the Euro 16 football tournament in June when extra police will be needed at matches in nearby Lille and Lens. CROSSING THE CHANNEL. After lagging the overall freight market for growth most of last year, Eurotunnel is now powering ahead according to its latest results. The overall cross-Channel freight market grew by 1.5 percent in the first quarter this year but the number of trucks through the Channel Tunnel carried increased by 10 percent, to more than 400,000 for the first time ever. Meanwhile, it was the best quarter in fifteen years for the regular passenger services with more than half a million vehicles using the crossing. Numbers grew by 8 percent compared to market growth of 3.6 percent. Ominously for its rivals, Eurotunnel took a 60 percent market share in the first quarter, up from 52.5 percent for all 2015. With the closure of Dover-Calais ferry operator MyFerryLink still working through the system, and the migrant crisis rumbling on around Port of Calais, it will be interesting to see how these figures develop over the rest of the year.

.

No worries about Winter Tyres from today. Also, where have all the border queues gone? And, migrants attack drivers at a rest area on the A26, continually attempt to block Calais port road, and almost make Dover in a dinghy.

Luxembourg A6 westbound closed Friday evening-Monday morning. Up to 15,000 motorbikes expected to demonstrate in central Paris on Sunday (and possibly other cities). Mont Blanc Tunnel closed overnight Monday 18 April 22:00-06:00. Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-Caen sailings disrupted until Sunday. We’re off to Antwerp for the weekend, then Brussels for a ‘Road Transport’ conference. Back on Wednesday.

.

The winter tyre requirement (and/or obligation to carry snow chains) ends today in Italy and Austria and, in effect, everywhere else. Vehicles need ‘winter tyres’ (marked ‘M&S’) to drive in wintry conditions in Germany at any time but, with temperatures now rising above 7 degrees Celsius, drivers can be confident of getting away with it. See more on Winter Tyre Rules around Europe. 

.

roundup: BORDERS. Amid all the kerfuffle this week about pending checks at the Italy-Austria Brenner Pass, it’s easy to miss the fact that the border delays which have dogged journeys in Continental Europe since the Paris Attacks last November have all but disappeared. Even the notorious E17 Kortrijk-Lille crossing is – almost – free-flowing. Since Germany said, earlier this month, it would lift the controls at the Austrian border in May, queues have been noticeably less (though watch it first thing on a Saturday morning). Most welcome of all, the very long delays seen on the outbound Belgium-Netherlands borders in the wake of the Brussels Attacks have certainly now gone. In the absence of any official announcements that controls have been stood down, from France particularly, drivers should be mindful of potential delays (especially crossing back to the UK). But in general, for the time being, it’s pretty much all clear. MIGRANT CRISIS. A disturbing story about two drivers attacked by migrants at the Chocque service station on the A26 in northern France, 75km from Calais. According to La Voix du Nord (via The Local France), police think the pair were unwittingly involved in a turf war between migrant gangs looking to control motorway rest areas, commonly used to board vehicles bound for the UK. It comes as locals allege migrants continue attempts to block the A216/N216 access road to Calais port overnight. The ‘Agir ensemble pour sauver le port de Calais’ Facebook group (‘Act together to save the port of Calais’) says migrants have been seen on the ring road every night for the past three weeks. Finally, a pair of Iranian migrants got with 1.5 miles of Dover in an inflatable dinghy on Wednesday reports DW.de. They were spotted by P&O’s Pride of Canterbury and picked up by the lifeguard. Several attempts have been made to cross the Channel in this way but this is the first time migrants are known to have got so close.

.

Mountain fans can look forward to some early action this year – the first super high roads start to open next week.

Also, Green politicians in Paris denounce upcoming Formula E electric car race as ‘ecological disaster’. Higher speed limit for caravans and trailers in Denmark this summer. Foreign vehicles banned from Gibraltar’s Upper Rock.

.

FIRST SUPER HIGH MOUNTAIN ROADS OPEN NEXT WEEK

Swizterland’s Splugen kicks off the summer season on Tuesday.

Snow clearing on Austria’s Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, see more.

After very short winter locks, in some cases, the highest mountain roads are nearly ready for the summer.

Next Tuesday (19 April), Splugen Pass 2188m in southern Switzerland – which marks the division between the Western and Eastern Alps – is the first to lift the barriers.

That’s almost a month earlier than usual.

Similarly, Oberalppass 2048m – one of the Gotthard passes, east from Andermatt – throws off its winter lock on Tuesday 26 April, a fortnight earlier than usual.

The Stelvio-Davos Flüelapass 2383m which – remember – closed unusually late this year, in early January, should be ready on Sunday 1 May.

It is followed in short order by Austria’s Grossglockner 2503m, Maltatal Hochalmstraße 1930m, Nockalmstraße 2012m and Hahntennjoch 1884m.

More to its regular schedule is Klausenpass 1952m, the fearsome boy racer road to the east of Altdorf, north of Gotthard, which is driveable from Friday 20 May, as should be Gotthard Pass itself.

James Bond’s Furka Pass opens on Monday 6 June and then Sustenpass 2224m on Friday 10 June.

There’s no word yet on Nufenen 2478m, the southern border of the six ‘Das Loop’ roads around Gotthard, but that is normally ready in mid-June.

Meanwhile, Timmelsjoch 2474m between Austria and Italy and Gavia 2621m are on course for early to mid-June.

Obviously there are no guarantees with high mountain roads, especially with the regular sprinklings of snow still falling in the Alps.

Also see ‘Surprisingly high roads which stay open all year’ and PassFinder. Sources @TdS Tour de Suisse and ADAC.

.

Next Saturday’s all-electric Formula E race in central Paris is denounced as an ‘ecological disaster’ by the city’s elected Green Party politicians. As well as objecting to the ‘toxic’ temporary asphalt laid on top of Les Invalides’ cobblestones, above, the Group Ecolo de Paris says, ‘While pedestrians, bicycles and public transport gradually regain their share of space monopolised by the car in Paris, this event sends a message against the grain: pedestrians must give way to cars going round and round.’ Ironically, Paris deputy mayor responsible for transport Christophe Najdovski is a member of the Green group. He has been noticeably quiet about the race. His boss Anne Hidalgo has hardly been over-flowing with enthusiasm for the world-class-event visiting her city next weekend either, but has said she sees the racing as an ecological way to promote alternatives to combustion engines, according to the Greens.

.

roundup: DENMARK. After the stunning success on road safety last year – fatalities cut by 8 percent to 30 per million inhabitants, just behind the UK – drivers with trailers, including caravans, will see their maximum speed limit raised to 100kmh on 1 July. Parliament adopted the ‘Tempo 100’ bill yesterday, raising the limit from its current 80kmh according to a release from the Department for Transport. ‘We’re raising the speed limit for cars with trailers in an intelligent way without compromising road safety,’ said Transport Minister Christian Schmidt. The new limit does depend on certain non-specified ‘technical requirements’ though the new regulation apparently brings Denmark into line with neighbouring Germany. Also see Copenhagen Post. GIBRALTAR. Foreign-registered vehicles have been banned from the Upper Rock Nature Reserve as of last Monday. The Gibraltar Social Democrats party calls the ban ‘unexpected, unannounced and surreptitiously introduced’ according to MyGibraltarTV, and wants to know if the impact on tourism has been assessed, and increased congestion in the town. Taxis and coaches still have access. The Rock rises more than 450m. The road has a reputation for being narrow and difficult to drive but the truly off-putting factor is the road toll: £20 per car. Update 14 April: foreign vehicles are indeed banned from the Upper Rock, GBC News confirmed today. The move is part of the government’s ‘sustainable tourism strategy’ to reduce congestion during the summer, allow easier access for emergency vehicles and cut air pollution in the nature reserve. Apparently the ban may be reconsidered after the summer.

.

Something is happening on the Brenner Pass border as Austria tries to stem the expected flow of migrants from Italy – but exactly what and when is not clear.

Also, Volvo’s FH16 750 pulls an incredible 750 tonnes in new viral video. Plugging Slovenia missing link speeds drivers Austria-Adriatic. Paris wants an Ecotaxe toll for transit trucks.

.

CONFUSION ABOUT BRENNER PASS BORDER CONTROLS

Border building underway to prevent migrants crossing from Italy. Big delays expected.

No obviously sign of building at Brenner today. Photo ASFINAG

Tirol police has denied press reports they are building a 250 metre fence across the motorway and the B182 pass road, but they admit foundations are being laid for a new building to monitor traffic in all weathers.

Austrian president Heinz Fischer said on Monday that the Brenner Pass barrier will not include a wall or barbed wire according to ANSA.it.

But Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said today the arrangement would be similar to Spielfeld – on the border with Slovenia – where there is a fence, according to Euractiv.

Both the European Commission and Italy have strenuously objected.

It is also unclear when border controls will start. Building work is due to finish at the end of May with checks widely reported to start on Wednesday 1 June.

The Austrian authorities are concerned that, with the recent closure of the so-called Balkan Route, migrants will cross to Italy instead and hence up into Germany via the Brenner Pass and Austria.

While there is little sign of migrants at Brenner yet, arrivals in Italy from Libya so far this year have doubled to 24,000. 

Meanwhile the Italian coastguard has rescued 4000 migrants in the Strait of Sicily in the past two days amid reports of an ‘alarming‘ build up of migrants in Libya.

With 2.1 million trucks alone using the Brenner motorway each year there is clear potential for long delays. There are already suggestions drivers’ hours rules may have to be suspended to keep traffic flowing. 

.

Volvo’s FH16 750 will already pull 325 tonnes with its new I-Shift transmission with crawler gears. Today the Swedish manufacturer releases a film shot in Port of Gothenburg showing how much the new set-up can really handle – it turns out the 750 can actually yank 750 tonnes: 40 containers filled with Volvo spare parts on twenty trailers stretching for 300 metres… see the film here. 

.

roundup: SLOVENIA. It may be only a 20km stretch, but the single lane road from Drazenci down to the Croatian border at Gruskovje is a notorious bottleneck, particularly in the summer. It lies on the direct route between Graz in eastern Austria and the Adriatic Sea resorts via Maribor and Zagreb. A pending upgrade to four lanes received a €140 million loan from the European Investment Bank last May. Now the EU adds another €63.5 million from the ESIF European Structural & Investment Fund, it was announced last week, to fully finance the €204 million project up to 2020. Meanwhile, much of the A2 on to Zagreb is four lane except for two tunnel sections to the north of Krapina. FRANCE. The President of the Ile de France Paris region wants to revive the Ecotaxe toll system for transit trucks. Valerie Pecresse says the charge would raise from €100-200 million each year according to Les Echos. However, the FNTR haulage association calls the toll ‘exorbitant’ saying transit vehicles represent just 6 percent of traffic and that a charge of €4.50 per kilometre would be needed to reach even the low revenue estimate. There have been several attempts to revive Ecotaxe on a regional basis since the national scheme was cancelled in 2014, so far without success.

.

World Rally Championship privateer heroes to take part in first Balkans Classic Rallye.

Also, there’s more than mere snow to contend with on Col du Galibier. Still more likely to see a zombie than a car on the recently opened A35 autostrada Milan-Brescia. Another fierce kicking for Germany’s €0.25 trillion transport plan.

.

PROPER ROUGH ROADS FOR INAUGURAL BALKAN CLASSIC

Eight days and 2000km on unmade roads in the Balkan Mountains.

Photo BalkanClassic.com

Eight days might seem plenty to drive the circa 400km between Bulgarian capital Sofia and the Black Sea.

But on rough, unmade roads through the Balkan Mountains it looks like competitors on the inaugural Balkan Classic Rallye this September will have their work cut out.

Organised by the Rallye Breslau International Association, entries are open for all FIA cars between January 1962 and December 1981. That means no 4WD or supercharged or turbocharged engines.

The three stop rally calls at Sofia, Starosel – at the foot of the Sredna Gora mountains, beside the Pyasachnik River – and Shkorpilovtsi south of Varna on the coast.

Most of the day stages are around 200km except day six which is a 600km sprint between Starosel and Shkorpilovtsi.

The total distance covered is around 2000km. Entry fees start from €1900 per car. 

Tuthill Porsche – which entered the Francois Delecour Porsche 911 GT3 in several World Rally Championship rounds last year – is already signed up.

See more at BalkanClassic.com.

.

Big sandstorms in the Sahara have combined with strong southerly winds to drop a fine layer of sand across Europe, not least on Col du Galibier in the French Alps. Meanwhile, work is on-going to clear D902 ahead of the summer, though the spectacular 2646m (8681ft) Galibier is not expected to open completely until mid-June. Photo Meteo-Grenoble.com

.

roundup: ITALY. The recently opened A35 Milan-Brescia ‘BreBeMi’ autostrada is still struggling for traffic. A video apparently filmed just after it opened in October 2014 showed a group of friends playing football on the empty carriageway. These days locals say ‘You find more people in the street during a zombie apocalypse that on Brebemi’, according to Milano Corriere della Sera. Officially A35 is carrying just a quarter of its forecast 60,000 vehicles each day. The issue is road tolls: the 77km from Brescia West to east Milan on the original A4 ‘Serenissima’ costs €6.30 for a car while the same journey is 15km longer via A35 and costs €12.40… Initial poor take up was blamed on the incomplete A58 TEEM east Milan bypass, and connections at the Brescia end, but both are now in place. At least this all means a nice quiet trip for flush visitors. A35 is one of a host of major new roads to open in Italy recently, see more. GERMANY. A week after the new €250 billion Federal Transport Plan 2030 was heavily criticised by a national motoring club, now is the turn of the Bundesrechnungshof Federal Audit Office. In a report for the parliament budget committee, auditors said the overall plan was not plausible because the cost-benefit ratios were not clear and the projects not directly comparable. It also said the cost estimates were ‘unrealistic’. In response, the BMVI transport ministry said cost-benefit ratios were one only factor among many it had to consider and it refused to re-evaluate the plan according to widespread reports. Junior transport minister Dorothee Baer later said on twitter that ‘The Bundesrechnungshof is inherently obliged to criticize BMVI. That is their raison d’être.’ The plan lists 1800 new road projects with a combined cost of €114 billion. ACE Club Europa said last week a lack of co-ordination between the works would result in a ‘nightmarish permanent building site’. Germany is still reeling from the Berlin airport debacle. Though the country has a reputation for organisation and efficiency, a 2013 EU auditors report said that, while German roads have the lowest initial cost estimates, they were more likely to run over budget and over-time than other countries. A case in point is the major work planned on the A9 southbound to Munich. It was due to start on Monday but so far this week there has been no sign of any activity at all.

.

Filling stations and supermarkets were running out of supplies as the Belgian truck toll protest spread from Wallonia for the first time – but then the interior minister intervened.

Also, gridlock in Gibraltar as Spain and Argentina sound off on UK ‘colonies’. Cross-border truck platoons arrive safe and sound in Rotterdam, as the first 60t Ecocombi truck takes to the road in Spain.

.

BELGIAN TRUCKERS UP THE ANTE TOO FAR

Protest strays beyond southern Belgium for the first time then government intervenes.

Brussels E40 at Ternat this morning. Photo Verkeerscentrum.be

Belgian truckers protesting against the new toll system considerably upped the ante this morning with a blockade of the major E40 both ways just to the west of Brussels.

It’s the first time the demonstrations have strayed out of Wallonia, southern Belgium.

However, the blockade lasted for less than an hour. Whether police intervened successfully, or it was a just shot across the bows from protestors, remains to be seen.

Flemish transport minister Ben Weyts has called on the federal interior minister Jan Jambon to stop similar blockades happening again in Flanders.

Update 16:00: Jan Jambon has called the blockades unacceptable and called on truckers to lift them. If not, he says police will clear them.

The Walloon government has also made a court application to remove the road blocks but no ruling has been made yet.

Update 18:00: police have removed some blocks from E42 at Tournai and E411 at Arlon according to TLV union official Freija Fonteyn, but some may still be in place tomorrow.

Update 20:00: federal police spokesman  @PDWaele tweets to say all blockades have ben lifted.

Meanwhile, the E42 border crossing near Lille remains closed and there are several ‘filter dams’ – which allow car traffic past – on the E411 between Brussels and Luxembourg.

There are also around twenty five other protests on main roads around Wallonia, see interactive map.

Reports yesterday said the first fines were now being issued though Dutch transport minister Melanie Schultz has received assurances the authorities will be lenient.

Apparently only those without an OBU On-Board Unit will be targeted with the €1000 penalty, initially.

However, drivers who fail to pay within three hours are liable for another €1000 fine reports Flanders Today.

Reports earlier today said filling stations are in danger of running out of fuel because the on-going blockades, now three days old, include storage and distribution centres (see this map – up to fifty garages are running/low closed, especially between Liege and Charleroi).

The same could also start to happen at supermarkets. Catch up with previous events here.

.

After journeys of nearly 2000km in some cases, the six ‘truck platoons’ from around the Continent arrived safe and sound in Rotterdam this afternoon. Truck platooning is two or three trucks connected by wifi in a column, with the first determining speed and route. It is said to be safer and more efficient than single vehicles, saving 10% of fuel and cutting CO2 emissions. Aside from more testing, the next step is to harmonise European rules and regulations – some German states refused to allow the vehicles to pass – and ensure market demand. Unilever and some major Dutch supermarkets have expressed an interest. Platooning will be on the agenda at the Informal EU Transport Council on 14-15 April in Amsterdam. Ten-vehicle platoons are due to take to UK roads though last night AA President Edmund King took to twitter to express some misgivings. Meanwhile, the first ‘mega-camion’ Ecocombi made the first trip in Spain on Monday. The 25.25m, 60t Scania drove 35km to the SEAT factory near Barcelona. Photo EUTruckPlatooning.com

.

roundup: GIBRALTAR. Drivers waited up to two hours yesterday evening to cross into Spain according to @GibraltarBorder. Eyewitness reports say Spanish border guards searched every car during peak time says GBC News causing ‘gridlock’. Coincidentally, or not, Spain’s hawkish Foreign Minister Jose Margallo was in Argentina where a joint call was issued for the UK to start talks to end ‘the colonial situations of Gibraltar and the Falklands’ according to a separate report on GBC News. Margallo was blamed recently for a resurgence of frontier queues in Gibraltar after his promise to close the border if the UK voted to leave the EU in the June referendum.

.

New ‘The Essential Guide to Driving in Europe’ is indeed a glove box essential, and good value too.

Also, green tech update on Brittany Ferries fleet finally finished. Truck emissions scams sees increased pollution in Germany. One legged man sets Spain’s speeding record.

.

REVIEW: ‘THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DRIVING IN EUROPE’

New handy reference book covers fifty European countries.

Albula Pass, Switzerland. Photo @DriveEurope

Author Julian Parish has driven more than half a million Continental miles over the past thirty years.

All that experience is now distilled into one 145 page book, ‘The Essential Guide to Driving in Europe’, published on Thursday (7 April).

Far from a personal travelogue however, Essential Guide is a fact heavy, reference book containing all the information drivers often need in a hurry, like speed limits or the French word for diesel.

The first fifty pages are by way of introduction, covering the essentials such as crossing the Channel, taking pets, towing, mountain roads, city driving, road tolls and taking classic cars abroad, among many other things.

The rest is then split into Western, Southern, Northern and Central & Eastern Europe with each of the fifty countries included given their own section, in the same format for ease of reference.

The country pages are particularly strong on fuel and parking, two of the fiddliest subjects and the easiest – and most expensive – to get wrong.

But they also include things explanations of otherwise difficult to understand road signs, including pictures, and port maps and guides.

Those tempted to venture further afield than the Cote d’Azur – or the Nurburgring – will find the country profiles authoritative and reassuring though they pull no punches: on the state of Belgium’s roads, for instance, or the driving standards in Italy.

As a quick and easy way to familiarise with the local rules and regulations as you speed across Europe, it’s hard to imagine how it could be done better – especially for £9.99.

.

‘The Essential Guide to Driving in Europe’ by Julian Parish. £9.99 UK/$19.99 USA.

Published by Veloce Publishing Ltd, www.veloce.co.uk. ISBN 978-1-845847-88-3. See at Amazon.

.

Brittany Ferries has finished fitting its fleet of six cruise ferries with new low emission technology. So-called ‘scrubbers’ in the funnel remove sulphur at an average cost of £10 million per ship. From January 2015, all ships in EU waters must use Low Sulphur Marine Gas Oil (LSMGO), or existing Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) alongside scrubbers. The former is around 40 percent more expensive. The regulations were forecast to see fares rise by up to 15 percent but passengers have so far been insulated from significant increases thanks to low fuel prices. Meanwhile, last year Brittany Ferries saw passenger numbers on its UK, France and Spain routes rise by 7.5 percent, and freight by 22 percent, partly due to the migrant crisis in Calais. The bulk of crossings, 38 percent, are on the Portsmouth-Caen route which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

.

roundup: GERMANY. A fifth of trucks in Germany emit illegal levels of nitrogen oxide due to an emissions scam from organised crime in Eastern Europe claims a transport association (via Transport & Environment). Camion Pro posed as buyers of software which bypasses the SCR emission reduction technology fitted in modern trucks and avoids the need to buy the ‘AdBlue’ catalyst. Savings could top €3000 per year per truck including cheaper tolls on the charged road network. A source says 70 percent of Romanian trucks in Western Europe use the software. SPAIN. A one-legged man caught at 297kmh (185mph) in Madrid set the country’s speeding record reports Motor.es. He was apparently test driving Porsche 911 Carrera on the M-4 last month when spotted by traffic police. The fine totalled €3200. The vehicle was immobilised before being returned to the dealer. Police had to summon a wheelchair before the unnamed 36 year old could be moved. It turns out, apart from previously having his licence taken away for totting up, he has a string of prior offences including drug trafficking according to El Pais. Even when eventually allowed to drive again, his disability means he will be restricted to 100kmh says TISPOL.

.

More road blocks in Belgium over the new truck toll system – protestors want only transit trucks to pay the new charges, especially those from the East.

Also, official licence scam blamed for Bulgaria’s dire road safety record. Man fined thousands after driving 200km in damaged Lamborghini. Upswing in number of migrants found at Hoek van Holland.

.

BELGIUM BLOCKADE TRUCKS WANT TOLL EXEMPTION

Road blocks resume after quiet weekend.

@Geordie_Driver’s ‘blockade selfie’ on E411 at Habay this morning.

Belgian truckers currently blocking roads across the south of the country want to be exempted from the new truck toll scheme.

After a relatively quiet weekend, truckers are again blocking the E411 Brussels-Luxembourg road in two places, and the E42 border crossing between Lille and Charleroi – plus a list of other, national roads (see this interactive map).

Truck driver @Geordie_driver, currently caught up in the blockade on E411 at Habay, says local police think the blocks might be lifted at 18:00 ‘if it is successful’.

By ‘successful’, the hauliers apparently mean that the toll will no longer apply to domestic firms.

‘They want transiting hauliers to pay,’ says @Geordie_Driver, ‘To stop the influx of our “comrades” from the east.’

Alleged unfair competition from Eastern Europe is a hot topic on the Continent currently.

French union OTRE is organising a national day of action on the issue this Saturday (9 April).

Meanwhile, Belgian truck federations TLV and FEBETRA have called for the blockades to be lifted immediately.

In a joint statement they say the protests are just holding their colleagues to ransom.

The introduction of the new Belgian truck toll caused widespread ‘chaos’ across the country on Friday, with road blocks on E411 and long queues at the border as drivers tried to register for increasingly scarce OBU On-Board Units.

However, the situation was much calmer on Saturday, leading some to think the worst had passed, see more.

.

A Luxembourg man was fined €2100 on-the-spot after driving 200 kilometres though Germany in his badly damaged Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 last week. However, the fine was not for driving the car as such but for destroying a motorway barrier. The man was on his way to Berlin on Thursday when he ‘came into contact’ with the barrier on the A5 near Fulda reports Wort.lu. Police eventually caught up with him on the A4 near Jena, 215km away. The damage to the car is estimated at €45,000. Photo Autobahnpolizei Thüringen

.

roundup: BULGARIA. Suspected corruption at the national transport agency is linked to the country’s dire road safety record last year reports Novinite. More than a dozen employees of the Road Transport Administration Executive Agency were arrested last week, including the boss, in raids around the country. It is alleged that licences were ‘improperly’ issued to car drivers and road transport companies. After a meeting of relevant ministers on Friday, the government ordered a ‘validity check’ for driving licences, and issued a statement blaming the alleged malpractice for the country coming bottom of EU road safety tables last year. Along with neighbouring Romania, Bulgaria recorded 95 deaths per million inhabitants in 2015, an increase of 4 percent on 2014. CROSSING THE CHANNEL. There has been a definite upswing in the numbers of migrants found at the Hoek van Holland ferry terminal in the Netherlands. In January and February, 150 migrants were picked up at Hoek compared to 450 for the whole of last year. Security at Dutch ports has been criticised as a ‘wave’ of migrants apparently moves north from Calais and Zeebrugge. However, police deny there is a problem. A spokesman tells DutchNews.nl, ‘It is not true. We check everyone who comes through here, and we check lorries based on the intelligence reports we get from several sources. Nor have we seen any real increase in numbers since Calais was closed last month.’

.