A step in the right direction but "deficient" - Tennders

The new EU regulation to improve protected parking for truck drivers will come into force on 18/07/2022. It is a step forward in terms of safety for professional drivers, but there is still a lack of 100,000 spaces, according to official EU studies.

"I have been robbed 2 or 3 times already. No driver can rest properly because they are all afraid". These are the words of Sinan Aparan, transport manager and Tennders partner, but they could well be the words of any of the thousands of drivers who work daily in freight transport in Europe.

Cargo theft alone in the European Union causes direct losses of more than 8.2 billion euros annually, and most robberies occur when trucks are parked. Who can have a restful sleep with this constant risk looming over their heads?

The European Commission, aware of the problem for the health of professional drivers, approved a new regulation to encourage safety and access to minimum services in parking areas for heavy goods vehicles on all corridors of European territory in April.

The new regulation, which will come into force on 18 July, consists of a minimum safety and service standards scheme. Car park operators who want to integrate them can obtain the EU Safe and Secure Parking Area certificate.

The certificates are awarded following an external audit process for which the operators must apply. During the audit, the minimum level of services they must offer and the level of security they can provide are assessed.

The minimum services include:

• Sanitary facilities adapted to both sexes: toilets and showers with free hot water and soap, rubbish bins and facilities cleaned regularly.
• 24/7 food and beverage shopping options and dining areas.
• Free internet connection and electricity supply.
• Contact points and emergency protocols.

In addition to these minimum services, which operators must provide if they want to be certified, the scheme establishes 4 categories to measure the level of security they can offer. These are bronze, silver, gold and platinum.

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The criteria chosen to define the level of security are based on the amount of protection (or deterrence) elements present in a parking facility.

Thus, the "Platinum" certificate (the highest certification) will go to those who mainly have:

• Perimeter secured by a continuous physical barrier at least 1.8 metres high, which has deterrents to make it difficult to drive over.
• Continuous video surveillance system with no blind spots around the entire perimeter, including parking, entry and exit areas.
• Entry and exit points secured with gates and bollards that do not allow overpassing or under passing. In addition, they shall be equipped with number plate recognition technology.
• Pre-booking system by phone, email, contact forms, apps, or online booking platforms.

The rest categories will have fewer security features as you go down the level. So, to achieve the "Bronze" certificate (lowest certification), the minimum requirements would be:

• Illuminated and secured perimeter with signs on the ground defining the parking area and limiting use to authorised vehicles only.
• Parking area surveillance checks once every 24 hours.
• Parking area entry and exit points will be illuminated to 25 Lux and have CCTV video surveillance to be reviewed at least every 48 hours.

The beginning of a very long road

The plan establishes a common denominator to ensure decent rest conditions for professional drivers. But, as we have emphasised, these measures will only apply if the car park operators want them to. Nowhere in the regulation is it stated that existing car parks are obliged to have the certificate.

And in the utopian case that all existing car parks want to be certified, it would not have solved the problem. According to the Study on Safe and Secure Parking Places for Trucks, there is a net deficit of 100,000 parking spaces in the European Union, regardless of whether they are safe or not.

The study made by the European Commission to create the regulation indicates that, in 2019, there were approximately 400,000 long-distance drivers across Europe in need of overnight parking daily.

However, it concluded that in the approximately 5000 truck parking areas identified in Europe, there are only about 300,000 available parking spaces per night. Of these, about 47,000 offer the minimum security by the new standards, and only approximately 7,000 spaces for heavy goods vehicles would qualify for the best certification level.

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For this reason, the IRU claims that "more ambition is needed". The International Road Transport Union calls "for the establishment of a dedicated policy and business target of doubling the current number of safe and secure truck parking places by the end of 2025."

And so it should be, although giving visibility to a grassroots problem dragging on for decades can already be considered an achievement. Like the great Spanish poet Antonio Machado wrote, only se hace camino al andar (one only makes the road by walking).

Steps are being taken in the right direction, but progress must continue with measures that go to the root of the matter: encourage the creation of more rest areas to ensure decent working conditions for professional drivers.