Hi starting new job Tuesday mainly Italian work any info on Italian hgv laws will be more than welcome Thanks
its too long ago for me to talk about laws in italy, but they were not amused if you did over 80ks even though their trucks ran at 90ks, motorway signs are green, not blue like ours, blue are local national roads. some Italian’s are impatient when shopping and will try to push in front whilst you are already being served at the till space (which is minimal at best) but a quick swift sweep of the arm puts their stuff on the floor and carry on as though they do not exist, as an aside punching is not allowed only slapping, and young things trying to catch their death by wearing very little are selling something, and all might not be as it seems in the gender side of things, my first trips were to Italy, then all over the EU, loved it, good luck have a great time,
Italy is surprisingly easy and pleasant usually provided you relax, go with the flow and accept the Italian interpretation of stuff.
Can have serious heat in the Summer and serious fog in the North in winter.
Make sure you have your mosquito kit for the truck and the spray for yourself if outside in the evenings particularly in the Northeast.
Get familiar with the tunnel your gang use as there is a bit of procedure involved. The Blanc tunnel requires a few pre-clearances before you get to the toll so I would advise you pull up at all check points until waved on and after you have done it once you will find it simple.
We can be heavy coming home so it is real easy to redden the brakes. Get familiar with your retarder or lack of if running heavy and forget about what the others are doing as they may be much lighter or have a much better retarder.
Usual running restrictions in Italy on non-perishables. This is 2020 but hopefully they will update it soon. tunnelmb.net/public/files/2 … ng-ted.pdf
Food is good even in MSA and just hand in your key to use the free showers.
Official limits are:
50K on Urban roads
70K on Non-urban roads
80K on Motorways/expressways
But…most stick to 90K on mways and ADR stay below 85K
Some great advice from Hurryupandwait, when in Italy and heading towards the Blanc tunnel, lorries must stop before the tunnel , at the checkpoint, which is about 25 miles from the tunnel.
You only have to go in to an office and declare what emissions are for your truck , depending on it’s age, they give you a bit of paper to hand in on arrival at the tunnel.
If you go past the checkpoint, they’ll turn you around at the tunnel, I have seem many fly past the checkpoint, mainly Spanish fridge trucks .
Strict radar controls inside the Blanc and Frejus tunnels .When in France, heading towards the Frejus tunnel and carrying ADR loads , you must stop before the tunnel and declare your load contents to the fire brigade or pompiers , they may check all your ADR equipment, but that never happened to me .
They will take a long time to verify the load manifest to check the mixture of the load and the safety of it if there was a fire or accident in the tunnel .
In rural areas in Italy , some road signs are 20 years old and out of date , sending you on a wild goose chase , headlights on in the daylight is their law .
The only negative issue was lack of truck stops , they are mainly Tavernas or restaurants with adequate parking for lorries.
The closure times are very odd and early in the evening, the toll motorway food is amazing and very cheap , I had an Autogrill drivers discount card for about 20% off meals , they love Lavazza coffee ,so try a triple espresso for that one hit from Southern Italy to Calais .
I never had problems with the traffic police. If you can get to Brescia East truck stop , they have a fully equipped gym, a hotel with a drivers discount, and car hire to tour the lakes and visit George Clooney’s house .