The European Commission and the Belgian presidency will jointly hold a conference in Brussels on ‘Improving European Truck Parking’ at the end of October.
This event offers the opportunity to showcase various initiatives
in Member States and unveil the results of the European pilot project LABEL to provide truckers with reliable information about the security and comfort levels of available parking areas.
Safe and secure rest areas are essential to truck drivers who must under the EU regulation for driving times and for road safety reasons take regular breaks.
However, the freight transport industry and the social partners have flagged up both the lack of adequate parking facilities and the problem of criminals targeting their trucks at parking areas.
This has led to several European-wide initiatives to boost and coordinate efforts at local and national level to provide truck drivers with secure and comfortable rest areas. It has also led the launch of the LABEL project co-funded by the budget of the European Union
LABEL’s operational group is developing a framework for the provision of reliable information about the security and comfort level of truck parking areas. The results of the project will be presented at the conference.
During its presidency, Belgium wishes to emphasise the need for continued efforts of Member States to provide truck drivers with safe and secure rest areas. The conference will contribute to this goal by bringing together all the stakeholders not only to take stock of European initiatives but also to come up with further concrete measures that Member States could take. It is only by working together in a truly multidisciplinary approach that freight crime can be successfully tackled.
