Police stop lorry driver after 13 days without rest

A 35-year-old Romanian lorry driver was found to have driven for 13 days without taking an actual rest period, ORF reported. Police stopped him on Thursday at a checkpoint on the Innkreis motorway A8 near Kematen an der Krems in the Linz-Land district.

Officers from Upper Austria’s state traffic department noticed irregularities in the driver card records during a check at about 11.40am. Police said the driver had recorded long stretches of driving as rest time instead of availability time. They identified 12 very serious violations of rest-time rules.

Inspectors also found several serious technical defects on the small lorry. Large parts of one tyre were coming loose, police said. The driver was barred from continuing his journey and had to deposit a security payment. Reports will be sent to the district authority and the public prosecutor’s office.

The driver reportedly told officers that he was frustrated by the lack of rest breaks and said he had to do what his employer instructed. Police said he also told them he was glad to have been caught.