On October 8, 2024, the Court of Appeal in The Hague ruled on appeal in the case of driver Jan Slotboom.
The facts, in brief. ADR driver Slotboom was overcome by fatigue after a long day at work. All parking spaces at the Shell Pernis unloading location and on the Botlek were occupied. Slotboom eventually parked his ADR tanker on the Rotterdam-Albrandswaard industrial estate, within the built-up area. Driving to his home in Dordrecht was not an option.
The Court of Appeal found the defendant guilty and imposed a fully conditional fine of €250. The conditional fine of €500 imposed by the Police Judge, with a subsidiary 10 days’ imprisonment, was therefore off the table.
A declaration of guilt without imposing a penalty or measure was a bridge too far for the Court. The failure to enforce traffic safety regulations or less consistently enforcing them should not be at the expense of potential safety risks, certainly not in a densely populated country like the Netherlands, according to the Court in its considerations.
In the grounds for the sentence, the Court takes a dig at the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management. The correspondence that had been conducted with the Minister about the parking problem had been introduced in these proceedings. The Court noted the following in the judgment:
“For solutions, he (read: the Minister) refersto the municipality and the purchasers of logistics services. With the suspect, the court finds it remarkable, at the very least, that in the Netherlands, which (also) presents itself as a transport country, insufficient priority is apparently given to providing facilities that make and keep that transport safe”.
The Court of Appeal in The Hague speaks clearly and endorses the need for more parking spaces as stated by Slotboom.
The solution to the structural shortage of at least 4,000 parking spaces for trucks cannot be shifted by the Minister to the transport sector itself or to lower authorities. It is the Minister’s turn. There must be a budget for sufficient parking spaces.
Arrest Court of Appeal The Hague 8 October 2024 in the Slotboom case
Otto Lenselink
October 2024
More to read
- The Hague Court of Appeal decides whether driver will pay for shortage of parking spaces
- Most important changes to the collective labor agreement for professional goods transport as of January 1, 2024
- Collaboration with Polish Law Firm
- Consequences of Deliveroo for the scope of the Collective Labour Agreement for Professional Freight Transport!
- Gelderland Court reduces parcel delivery driver’s fine by more than 80%
- Is it legally required to secure loads during short stopovers?
- Court of Justice restricts repeated fining for a single offence
- Tightening enforcement of driving and rest times and tachograph fraud by the ILT
- Criminal prosecution for tachograph fraud
- Fuel card fraud: who pays the bill?