The local court in Mühlhausen, Thuringia, fined the owner of a haulage company based in the Ilm-Kreis district, which includes Ilmenau, more than €17,000 on Monday 19 October 2026. The case involved more than 200 breaches of regulations on working hours, driving times and drivers’ rest periods. The proceedings followed inspections carried out at the company’s premises and on its vehicles in 2025. These led to six administrative penalty notices totalling around €22,000, issued by the Landesamt für Verbraucherschutz (Thuringia State Office for Consumer Protection). The operator challenged the penalties, bringing the case before the court, which reduced the total after three individual allegations were withdrawn.
The company owner had delegated checks on compliance with driving time regulations to employees, issued warnings to drivers and dismissed two of them. However, the court found these measures insufficient because the software used by the company did not automatically detect all infringements and the instructions given to drivers, many of whom were Polish, were written only in German. The court ruled that the breaches had not been deliberate and warned the operator about the consequences of any further offences. The decision is not yet final.
Failure to exercise proper supervision within a company is covered by Section 130 of Germany’s Administrative Offences Act. The provision applies to business owners who intentionally or negligently fail to take the supervisory measures needed to prevent breaches of obligations for which they are responsible, where adequate supervision would have prevented those breaches or made them significantly more difficult. The law explicitly includes the appointment, careful selection and supervision of staff responsible for compliance checks among these measures. In Thuringia, the Landesamt für Verbraucherschutz imposes penalties for breaches of driving time, rest period and tachograph regulations reported following roadside inspections by the police and the Bundesamt für Logistik und Mobilität (Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility, BALM). It also carries out inspections at transport and logistics companies to check compliance with social regulations and working time legislation.
