The Administrative Court on Cologne has ruled that semitrailers driving solo are not subject to truck tolls.
The case was based on the following facts:
The Austrian suitor regularly conducts transfers of brand-new, never before regularly licensed semitrailers on their own axes for money and was subsequently summoned to pay the truck toll as a result of a review by the Federal Office for Goods Transport.
The Administrative Court in Cologne, however, decided that these toll collections were unlawful. The court argued that the conditions for the application of a toll were not given by a solo driving semitrailers. In order to charge the fees, it is required by law, that the vehicle is intended exclusively for road haulage. However, in the given case this exclusivity was lacking in solo driving semitrailers, as based on the technical design and construction of the semitrailers it can not be ruled out that the semitrailers is not open for other purposes than the transport of goods.
Source: Cologne Administrative Court, judgment of 14.04.2015 – 14 K 3417/11
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