Breakaway Cable Attachment in Holland
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No apology needed. It’s your thread, not mine.
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Forget all that. If it is legal in the country where the car is registered, then it is legal in ALL member states. That is fact. I would still be there arguing with them. I travel the length and breadth of Europe and have all sorts of problems with foreign police regarding this type of rubbish. They carry the caribiners and sell them? Right there is why you got pulled over. Many cars, including mine don't have the facility to fix the breakaway cable the way they want it.
I have been put in a cell on more than one occassion because of over zealous or ignorant police officers and I will stand my ground if I am in the right, even had guns pointed at me for refusing to change a headlight bulb of my coach on the hard shoulder of a French motorway at 3am in the pissing rain. I had to take the whole front bumper off in order to replace the bulb and I was more than willing to do it in a safe place, like the aire that was 1500 meters further down the motorway, but I was not prepared to do it on the hard shoulder, putting my passengers in danger, which, incidently, were children. He was so mad I honestly thought he was going to shoot me. Any way, a teacher who spoke fluent French managed to sort it out and I changed it in the aire down the road, while he watched from his warm, dry police car. Grrrr!
Then the time I had a car on a trailer coming from Italy into Switzerland. They pulled me over because the car on the trailer did not have a Vignette. "I'm sorry...WHAT?!"
They really do take the pee sometimes.
It will all change if we leave the EU with no deal. We will have to register our caravans and have separate number plates for them. Plus some of you won't have a licence to tow one and all sorts of complicated problems. haha!
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A timely reminder to note that I have not received any further communication from the Openbaar Ministerie regarding my appeal.
The last communication stated that a decision had not yet been made and under the General Administrative Law Act, they were extending the Staututory Decision period by 10 weeks. That letter was dated 8 October 2018.
Given that the 10 weeks extension is past its sell by date....and with an impending visit to the Netherlands, it may be the right time to fire off a message, via their excellent 'on-line message centre', and request an update. Watch this space !!.
DS3.... I'm no lawyer and can only proceed on advice given....both by this club (with previous experience of a similar case) and the Royal Dutch ANWB...with reference to your point about a licence to tow etc in the EU.....I have just dug out my old International Driving License (IDL)....pre Common Market (as the EU used to be called).which has also reminded me that this is the 1949 IDL issued in 1964 pre the 1968 IDL..It clearly shows the exact driving cats as on my UK license.
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David...Similar to myself..extensive driving throughout Europe since '64 never had any issues with police...and I did not on this occasion. The police were very polite and almost apologetic having to issue the ticket...one even talked about hoping to afford the electric version of my car (Mitsubishi outlander PHEV)..if he got promotion !!.
I have sent a message, as mentioned in previous post, and am waiting for a response. In the absence of any definitive decision by the Openbaar Ministerie to date...may I suggest anyone going to the Netherlands (or Germany) in the very near future..to follow the correct attachment advice given by the Royal Dutch ANWB to their members. as shown in the link below...Select the Holiday Tab/Caravan/Driving with caravan.
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David, Apologies the link is not working correctly, possibly due to the translation into English page... Select the link again.
On Main tab Bar select 'Holiday'
Under Holiday tab, scroll down to 4th tab 'Camping' and select.
This brings up another page with 3 sections. Under central section "All About Your Tent or Caravan" Select 1st Tab "Caravan".
Brings up another page..scroll down to :="Driving with your caravan" the select "Before you go driving"
Hope this works for you...If not the link is also further back in this thread but is not in English...
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Finally I have received a decision on the appeal I submitted nine months ago....
Unfortunately, whilst the Public Prosecutor has decided to dismiss the case..and therefore no payment of fine is required.....I did not get the outcome I was hoping for, in that I wanted a confirmation that the legislation only applies to Dutch registered vehicles..I think they have just thrown into the long grass !!
As before, putting a readable jpg format of the letter on here is virtually impossible....so with the help of Google online translator I have copied the 'decision' paragraphs below...
I have also sent a copy to the Club's travel dept who have assisted me in this appeal..
Finally, I can only suggest that anyone travelling to The Netherlands, towing a caravan in future, conforms to the advice given by the Royal Dutch ANWB in their excellent data sheet...The link to this document are further back in this post.
Not sure how to do this but I think this thread may be better served under 'Overseas Travel'
Translation of Decision Letter
U hebt een beschikking ontvangen voor het overtreden van een verkeersvoorschrift in Nederland.
Tegen deze beschikking hebt u beroep ingesteld bij de officier va justitie. De officier van justitie heeft naar aanleiding van uw beroep de volgende beslissing genomen.
U hebt beroep ingesteld tegen de opgelegde sanctie. Het is niet gelukt om in deze zaak binnen dehiervoor gestelde termijn beslissing. Deze termijn is genooemd in de Algemene Wet Bestuursrecht (artikel 7:24 AWB).
Alles overwegende vernietigt de officier van justitie de beschikking. U hoeft deopgelegde sanctie en de administratiekosten niet te betalen.Als u een bedrag terugontvangt, wordt dit binnen vier weken naar u overgemaakt.
You have received a decision for violating a traffic regulation in the Netherlands.
You have appealed against this decision to the public prosecutor. The public prosecutor has taken the following decision on your appeal.
You have appealed against the sanction imposed. We have not been able to make decision in this matter within the aforementioned period. This term is mentioned in the General Administrative Law Act (Section 7:24 of the AWB).
All in all, the public prosecutor will destroy the decision. You do not have to pay the imposed penalty and administration costs. If you receive an amount back, this will be transferred to you within four weeks.
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Not good outcome in my opinion.............they have not actually said that these laws do not apply to visitors vehicles!!It follows that when foreign touring one should be thoroughly conversant with all of the countries motoring regulations and obey them to the letter.!!I for one find that as a reason to think twice about giving other countries the benefit of my holiday money !!!
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The decision would appear to be on a 'time expired' basis which is hardly a satisfactory outcome if seeking clarification.
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Good news for yourself GTP, and well done for persevering, but everybody else is still left in limbo and I now think it becomes incumbent (must stop listening to politicians) on the CMC to take up the matter with the Dutch authorities until we obtain a definitive answer.
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It is very frustrating that this issue of poor or missing attachment points has not been resolved by better manufacturing.
Each of us want to tow safely, and comply with regulations in each country we visit. If a towbar must be EU compliant then one should assume that the towbar has all the required fitment points - sadly not the case.
Westfalia even publicise an extra fitment for their towbars to comply with Dutch, Swiss and Austrian requirements.
https://www.westfalia-automotive.com/uk/workshop/safety-rope-for-trailers/
Well done to GTP for challenging his "fine"
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Besides, since 2015, Westfalia towbars are manufactured according to ECE R55 instead of the corresponding EU regulation, and ECE R55 requires a dedicated anchorage point. The issue should therefore have gone away except for older towbars.
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