Police stop Croatian truck with dangerous defects

Police in Klagenfurt stopped a Croatian truck with serious safety defects on Sunday, ORF reported. The driver had also exceeded the permitted driving times and manipulated the vehicle’s tachograph.

Traffic police stopped the articulated truck at about 8:45 a.m. During the inspection, officers found major defects on both the tractor unit and the trailer. One tyre was so badly damaged that its inner fabric was visible. The front bumper was broken, while a leak in the fuel tank and a missing fuel cap caused diesel to escape.

The trailer’s underrun protection was loose and partly corroded, and the brake lines were losing pressure. Police confiscated the vehicle’s licence plates and prohibited it from continuing its journey.

An analysis of the digital tachograph showed violations of the driving-time rules. The driver had also repeatedly driven without inserting his driver card and had falsely recorded the resulting gaps as rest periods.

Both the driver and the vehicle’s registered owner will be reported for administrative offences.