Easter Monday proved particularly costly for many truck drivers in Belgium. On 21 April 2025, the Federal Police launched a nationwide enforcement operation aimed at verifying compliance with European regulations on drivers’ working and rest conditions. The initiative, which took place simultaneously across nine motorway service areas, revealed numerous breaches.
Officers inspected 294 lorries, finding that in 243 cases the drivers were spending their regular weekly rest period inside the cabin. This practice, prohibited under European social legislation, resulted in an administrative fine of 1,800 euros per driver. The total amount of fines issued in just one day came to 487,765 euros.
The operation was the result of an inter-agency collaboration that involved, in addition to the Federal Road Police, the Waterway Police, various local police zones (including Antwerp, Centre Ardennes, Hekla and Leuven), the Immigration Office, the Regional Social Inspectorate and other supervisory bodies such as Sirs (the Federal Inspectorate for Social Fraud), the Federal Department of Mobility and the Customs Authority. Observers from the European Labour Authority were also present, along with inspectors from Romania and Lithuania, highlighting the cross-border nature of the problem and the growing European cooperation to tackle abuse in the sector.
In addition to breaches relating to rest periods, the authorities identified numerous other violations: 20 cases of tachograph tampering, 14 infringements of driving and rest time rules, four missing driver attestations, one incomplete CMR transport document, eight breaches of employment regulations, and four individuals found to be residing illegally. Sirs also ordered the seizure of five vehicles due to serious violations of social legislation and suspicions of fraud.
According to the Belgian authorities, the companies involved may face further investigations in their countries of origin, as part of a coordinated and systematic effort to combat evasive practices. As emphasised by the European Platform for the Defence of the Transport Activity, which disseminated information on the operation, fair and rigorous enforcement of EU rules is a cornerstone in safeguarding drivers’ wellbeing and ensuring fair competition in the single transport market.
