'Prepare for more' DOT
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by Karen Miles UK hauliers angry about the damage inflicted on the industry by eastern European hauliers should stop complaining and prepare for worse to come, warns the Department of Transport.
DOT officials say they will do their best to make sure that eastern European trucks operate within European Union law. But they add that UK operators must accept that in the future, hauliers from the eastern European economies will legitimately be taking an increasing share of their business.
An increase in the number of bilateral permits allowing international journeys between EU countries and eastern European states, and the future enlargement of the Ell, will give them more access.
Poland, Hungary and Estonia are set to join the EU in the early part of the next century, giving bafflers from those countries unlimited movements within the [U's existing 15 member states. "This situation is not going to go away. There is a drift towards open trade between all countries throughout the whole of mainland Europe,' says an official. The statement comes as the planned meeting between DOT civil servants and their German ministry of transport counterparts looks set to drift to mid-May.
This meeting, which was originally planned for this month, will deal with allegations by UK hauliers that German operator Willi Betz appears to be bending the rules by apparently using large numbers of trucks from the company's Bulgarian subsidiary for work within the EU.
The DOT has asked the Germans to look into Betz's operations and report back; the German giant strongly protests its innocence, saying it operates with all the necessary permits.
This year the Germans and Bulgarians agreed a bilateral deal giving the Bulgarians 200 permits for runs from Germany into the EU and other countries.