Trucks in a ditch for months: Who should pay for the expensive recovery misery?

Trucks in a ditch for months: Who should pay for the expensive recovery misery?

The strange story of a truck that has been waiting to be rescued in a ditch near Coppenbrügge for almost a year is causing a stir. In October 2024, the vehicle left the road on a federal road between Brullsen and Coppenbrügge (Hameln-Pyrmont district) and has been lying in a ditch ever since, completely overgrown with nettles and blackberry vines. The measures taken by the responsible authorities have stalled and Mayor Thomas Küllig (independent) is concerned about the untenable situation.

The State Office for Road Construction has now had new crash barriers installed on the B442, but recovering the truck is difficult and expensive. With an estimated cost of almost 40,000 euros to remove the truck that was temporarily transporting 20 tons of bitumen, hardened to boot, progress is lagging behind. A used recovery crane would have to be laboriously made stable in order to carry out the recovery.

Complicated responsibilities

The situation is further complicated by the inability to hold the owner or driver of the truck accountable. The driver is a Romanian citizen and the truck is registered in Great Britain - with an Italian company that has not yet been contacted. Unfortunately, investigations by the police and Interpol did not produce any results. This lack of clarity means that the costs involved cannot be covered by insurance, as is the case with a vehicle registered in Germany. Mayor Küllig explained that several companies were asked for offers and the cheapest offer was 38,000 euros.

The property owner Thomas Milnikel is stunned by the situation and is even thinking of offering the truck for dismantling and scrapping. A vehicle registered in Germany would have provided a clear legal framework in which the insurance would have covered the costs. All of these factors shed significant light on the challenges and legal gray areas in international traffic.

Accidents involving goods vehicles

The problem of rescues after traffic accidents is not an isolated case. According to a Statista study, there were numerous road traffic accidents involving freight vehicles between 1992 and 2024. In 2020, for example, more than 420 of these accidents with personal injury were registered, involving 24,730 drivers of goods vehicles. What is worrying is that in this sector in particular, the consequences of accidents for other road users are generally more serious.

Compared to previous years, the number of accidents involving freight vehicles has tended to decrease since 1999. A large proportion of these accidents are caused by failure to comply with the speed limit or errors when turning. Nevertheless, the risk for other road users remains high; It is more than four times more likely to suffer a fatal accident in a collision with a truck.

The current situation in Coppenbrügge and the statistics on accident involvement underline the complexity and challenges in road traffic, especially when international aspects have to be taken into account. Only the prospect of a legally secure future in road traffic can alleviate the serious problems associated with such accidents.