Pulled out of service

Bus was nothing more than a technical hodgepodge of misery

The panel van belonging to a Czech haulage company in the Waldviertel was ready for the scrapheap. It was immediately taken out of circulation.(Bild: zVg)

A police officer in the Waldviertel region of Lower Austria could not believe his eyes when a Czech company van drove past him. After a check, confirmation followed: Imminent danger and other serious defects. The unbelievable thing was that the desolate vehicle was the replacement car, because the other one was being repaired!

"I haven't seen a vehicle in such a terrible condition for a long time," says a trained heavy vehicle inspector in the Zwettl district. The police officer had actually just finished patrolling the main road in Schwarzenau and was about to leave the main square when he couldn't believe his eyes: in front of him slowly drove past the technical wretch of a box van.

He immediately stopped the bus of a Czech haulage company with a Slovakian driver (37), which was on its way back from a delivery to a Waldviertel company.

Damage was not just "cosmetic"
Massive dents on the driver's door and huge welds were the reason why the vehicle was examined more closely at the vehicle inspection center in Brunn an der Wild. The result: seven serious defects and once even an imminent danger due to a non-functioning handbrake! Among the defects, the severe rust on the brakes & co. was particularly noticeable.

If that was the replacement car ...
But the defective exhaust system and incorrectly adjusted headlights were also criticized. "It was actually the company's replacement car, because the other car was being repaired in the workshop," says the executive officer, mentioning another bizarre detail. It also raises the question of what a bad state the "main vehicle" must have been in.

The license plate and registration certificate were taken away immediately. Because the driver was also missing important transport documents, he had to pay 1,600 euros on the spot.