site.btaTransport Authorities Step Up Measures Against Unlawful Cross-Border Carriage of Passengers

Transport Authorities Step Up Measures Against Unlawful Cross-Border Carriage of Passengers

Kapitan Andreevo, Southern Bulgaria, April 27 (BTA) - The
Bulgarian authorities are stepping up controls on cross-border
transport services following a complaint by several associations
of bus carriers for unlawful carriage of passengers. This
transpired in the early hours of Monday when Transport Minister
Ivaylo Moskovski joined a team checking trucks and buses
crossing into Bulgaria from Turkey via the Kapitan Andreevo
checkpoint.

According to the alerts, the unlawful carriage of passengers
mostly occurs on Sunday and Monday.

The check at Kapitan Andreevo started at 03:00 hrs on Monday.
Out of 47 vehicles that were checked, the authorities
established 15 violations. Most of them were missing tachograph
papers and missing translations of the driving licence.

The Transport Minister said that two mobile labs are
operational: one for heavy-duty trucks and one for buses.

Control by mobile groups will be tightened on all borders,
Moskovski said.

The fine for first unauthorized carriage of passengers is 1,500
leva and for repeat offence 3,000 leva. The first time a vehicle
is caught it is impounded for six months and the second time
the impounding is for a year.

The authorities caught 125 unauthorized carriers of passengers
in the whole of 2014 and 43 in January-April 2015.