After crossing the border, Ukrainian truckers abandon their trucks and run away to Europe

After crossing the border, Ukrainian truckers abandon their trucks and run away to Europe

Ukrainian truckers abandon their trucks after crossing the border and flee to Europe.

More often, drivers leave their cars after unloading. “Some men specifically open the truck driving category in order to leave Ukraine in this way,” the carrier complains.

Vice-President of the Association of International Road Carriers Vladimir Balin commented on the situation with the increasing number of cases of non-return of commercial vehicles from abroad by Ukrainian drivers.

According to him, commercial vehicle drivers are almost the only category of Ukrainian citizens of military age who can travel through the Shlyakh system while performing their functional duties.

“The carrier enters the driver or drivers into the Shlyakh system. They go on a flight and then must return. Unfortunately, facts of non-return of drivers do exist. And the deeper mobilization measures take place in the state, the more cases of non-return of drivers,” said the vice-president. President of the Association of International Road Carriers.

Balin explained that such drivers leave vehicles with or without cargo, after which the carrier needs to find and send another driver. Because of this, the carrier has problems.

“If this happens, Ukrtransbezopasnost, as the administrator of the Shlyakh system, can disconnect the carrier from using the Shlyakh system for three months. That is, actually paralyze the company’s work for three months,” Balin explained.

He also noted that he does not have statistics on drivers of military age who travel this way from Ukraine, but added that there is already a fact of an increase in such cases.

“People abandon their cars en masse and the drivers do not return. After that, other drivers are sent out, and they complete these trips. I am not ready to say whether the Shlyakh system will remain in operation or not, because from the first days of the war it was the only way to our commercial transport drove and provided passenger and cargo transportation. And I think that such a mechanism is correct. The question simply arises of the responsibility of the drivers themselves for such actions,” Balin added.