Freight company owners unite to defend themselves against BelToll

Belarusian hauliers who had been affected by the work of BelToll are set to press for amnesty from fines.

On March 4 the first session of the Belarusian Union of Hauliers “8th Region”. Charter97.org has been informed about that by the leader of STOSS-Servis private unitary enterprise Syarhei Shtoda. Recently he served a 15-days’ arrest for a call to stage a protest in front of the House of Government on February 4, addressed to all hauliers cheated by the Belarusian-Austrian system BelToll.

An organinsing committee was elected at the session. Besides Syarhei Shtoda, its members are Yuliya Hryshkevich (a director of Lagentrans company), Aleh Novikau (SprinterKargo company director), Syarhei Harlenka (Worldtrans company director), Dzyanis Lahutska (Lagden company director), Kanstantsin Zhurba (a sole trader), Alyaksei Pinaeu (a sole trader).

Issues related to possibility of a BelToll “fines’ amnesty” by the government were discussed. The BelToll system had been malfunctioning for the first three months after it was launched. Soon the website of the organisation is to be created, a number of meetings held. It is planned that management of the company Kapsch Telematic Services, the deputy Minister of Transport, top officials of the Transport inspection and representatives of organisations from Lithuania, Poland and Germany are to be present there.

“In addition, we have decided who is going to fly to Vienna, to the head office of Kapsch Telematic Services, which is responsible for creation and implementation of BelToll system on the territory of Belarus, in order to describe how its Belarusian daughter company is working. Eventually, they will have such “an advertising campaign”, that Russia, which was planned to be the next partner in toll roads systems, would probably choose some other company to work with,” Syarhei Shtoda said to charter97.org.

We remind that some international freight companies are now to pay fines equal to about 50,000 – 80,000 Euro because of imperfections of the new toll roads system BelToll. It means bankruptcy for many of them, and officials are shrugging their shoulders, referring to a human factor, because of which violators had not been initially informed about fines, which are charged almost every day, at a high speed. Directors of firms threatened to take to the streets, and even block the ring road, or even burn their trailer trucks in a protest.

After the last interview before the protest rally, Syarhei Shtoda went missing, however a bit later he was found in a detention centre in Akrestsin Street. He was arrested right after the meeting with the first Vice Premier Vasily Matsyusheuski, where they were to discuss how to solve the problem. Later the businessman told that the authorities had been frightened and prepared special cells for participants of the protest. The government managed to disrupt the protest.