Flanders still waits for over €13 million in foreign truck fines

The Flemish government is still awaiting more than 14 million euros in outstanding fines for violations of the mileage charge. About 13 million euros of that is charged to foreign trucks. The business newspaper De Tijd reports that barely half of the fines are collected from some countries.

Although about half of the freight traffic on Flemish toll roads comes from abroad, more than three-quarters of the fines in 2024 went to foreign trucks. Trucks from the Netherlands (8,165), Poland (5,376), and Germany (3,412) were significantly fined.

UK and Romania culprits

However, for 2023, 2022, and 2021, many collection procedures for 2024 are still ongoing –14 million euros in fines are still outstanding. Of these, more than 13 million are charged to foreign trucks.

It is proving difficult to collect the fines, especially from Spain (48,8% collection rate), Bulgaria (49,1%), the United Kingdom (54%), and Romania (56,6%). This is also because recoveries with a bailiff regarding foreign license plate holders are not possible.

Revenue of more than €1 billion

Since April 2016, trucks traveling on Belgian roads must pay tolls. All truck traffic in Belgium is mandatorily equipped with a device that records the vehicle’s trajectory. If a police check reveals that the truck does not have the device on board or if it is switched off, the driver is in violation.

Kilometer tolls for trucks brought in more than a billion euros for the first time in Belgium last year. In 2024, the toll brought in 658 million euros in Flanders, 347,1 million euros in Wallonia, and 10,8 million euros in Brussels. Thus, for the whole of Belgium, this amounts to almost 1,016 billion euros.