HGV's

[Gardian]

Just curious, but someone will know the answer.

We were on the A9 (Nimes - Montpellier) yesterday (Sunday, 13.00) and stopped for a quick bite at one of the motorway service stations. Yes, I know that there's better places to eat, but it was convenient when you're dropping somebody off at the airport.

The parking area was wall-to-wall with HGV's - literally hundreds of them.  The motorway wasn't particularly busy, but virtually no lorries, although there were one or two in both directions.

I thought that there was an embargo on HGV's at weekends, but from when to when?  Also, why would there be a sprinkling of lorries on the motorway when all the others seemed to be parked up?

Just interested - looked at the ASF site, but couldn't find the answer.  

[Sunday Driver]

Traffic restrictions for heavy goods vehicles 2011

The sprinkling of lorries you saw on the motorway will have been those exempted from the driving restrictions.

 

[andyh4]

There are strict controls on what can and cannot be taken on the road on Sundays - and also Saturday at the moment.

 

http://www.bison-fute.equipement.gouv.fr/en/IMG/pdf/_EN_Brochure_vehicules_lourds_2011_DEF_WEB_cle743294.pdf

 

In a nutshell perishable goods (and not necessarily refrigerated) are permitted.  Things connected with tourist attractions and fairs are permitted.  Most other things are forbidden.

 

Ban lasts from 22:00 the day before until 22:00 on the day in question..

 

Also bear in mind that the drivers have strict driving hour limits and have to take regular breaks - so some of those at the relais may have been doing what you were - having lunch.

 

Assuming you were in the South of France, (EDIT:  Now see that that is exactly where you were) most of the perishable goods trucks from Spain and Italy will have planned to be much farther North by Sunday lunchtime, which will explain why the roads were so empty.  Normally they will be at the distribution markets in the small hours of Monday morning - Rungis (Paris), Bruxelles, Cologne, etc.

 

EDIT:  cross post with SD.  At least we sing from the same hymn sheet

[Gardian]

Thanks gentlemen.

That explains it concisely.

[Cendrillon]

We saw the same thing driving to Spain last year on a Sunday. We knew about the restrictions but imagined that all lorry drivers would have reached home by Saturday night. Obviously this is not necessarily the case and the drivers were holed up with their lorries in the services parking, cleaning lorries, making meals and generally waiting to leave as soon as the ban was over..

[PaulT]

SD your link was excellent.

It must really get the drivers down, especially if they have been delayed and not made it home before the ban.

[idun]

Due to bad weather other proscriptions can come into play too, ie no overtaking at certain times or HGV's forbidden to roule.

There are a few ways to look at this. When the school holidays start and finish one can still end up in terrible jams in spite of the HGV restrictions, so these days are ones to avoid in my opinion. However, we often would travel on Sundays so that the roads were quieter. I know that I hear that roads in France are quiet, but not necessarily the routes we needed to use.

[Val_2]

My BIL is a weekly tramper to Spain and Portugal from the home counties and very often gets held up on the return to Caen so his tacho runs out just an hour or so away and then its laid up until after midnight on sunday when he can go and report for boarding. His regular load is cosmetics and toiletries both ways so is not exempt but when he used to do Miko icecream from the UK to Spain it was travelling on a weekend.

[andyh4]

[quote user="PaulT"]

SD your link was excellent.

It must really get the drivers down, especially if they have been delayed and not made it home before the ban.

[/quote]

 

You don't know the half of it Paul.

 

The Italians and Germans also have weekend HGV driving bans - similar but different - which means you might be able to drive up to the border but you are then stopped from going further.  Then you can drive for a few hours but then you are stopped again or you run out of driving hours for the day or week.

Then add in public holidays - which are not the same across Europe of course - and which also envoke bans.

A couple of years ago, I had one driver who had not been back to his home country for three months!

 

No wonder there is a shortage of long distance drivers.

[Gardengirl]

We almost always drive to or from France on a Sunday - which is what we've just done. The autoroutes from the Gard up to the Troyes area, where we spent the night, were busy, but at least there were few lorries around. I'd always known about only perishable loads being allowed on the autoroutes, but hadn't known the exact hours it was applied, so thanks for that info.