Romanian truck missing a wheel stopped near Písek, Czechia

In Kostelec nad Vltavou in the Písek region, police stopped a Romanian driver who was transporting a BMW and a large septic tank on a low-loader trailer. The trailer was missing an entire wheel on its left side, and the overloaded rig was swerving along the road, said South Bohemian police spokesman Milan Bajcura.

Heavy-goods-vehicle specialists called to the scene were stunned: the remaining wheels lacked fastening bolts, with typically only three of five in place. After the truck and semi-trailer were driven onto the scales, it turned out that the weight exceeded the permitted limit several times over, which in this case is two percent.

The driver was handed two deposits: 200,000 crowns for the overweight load and another 200,000 for breaking the rules, as his tachograph was also faulty. The fine for the offence came to 15,000 crowns.

“In addition, his licence plates and the registration certificates of the vehicle and trailer were confiscated, and he was banned from driving on. The rig was parked until the trailer is repaired,” Bajcura explained. The officers wondered how the driver could have set out on a journey between France and the Balkans with such equipment. In administrative proceedings, the carrier faces a fine of up to several hundred thousand crowns.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz