Seven cars were stopped from operation for carrying out unregulated passenger transport. The enhanced, comprehensive control is being conducted jointly by employees of the Ministry of the Interior, the Executive Agency "Road Administration," and the National Revenue Agency, as ordered by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov. The checks will continue indefinitely in various regions of the country and at border crossing points.
In the Vidin region, three cars were found to have carried out unregulated passenger transport from Germany and Belgium to Bulgaria. For the same violation in the area of the Border Checkpoint "Danube Bridge" – Ruse, three more drivers were sanctioned. They had been transporting passengers from Sofia to Romania. During another inspection, a driver transporting passengers from Petrich was sanctioned. The penalties provided for in the Road Transport Act are a fine of BGN 2,000, suspension of the vehicle from operation for up to 12 months, and revocation of the driver's license for one year.
"Unregulated passenger transport is extremely dangerous because it is carried out by drivers who do not have a permit for this activity, passengers are without insurance, and drivers are often overtired and do not comply with rest rules," emphasized Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Grozdan Karadzhov. According to him, incidents involving this type of transport are becoming increasingly frequent. The latest such incident was at the end of last week in the Vidin region, where 4 people died. An inspection by the Executive Agency "Road Administration" found that the same vehicle had left the country 8 times from December last year until the accident, and the driver - 68 times in one year with different cars. Information has been sent to the Ministry of the Interior and the National Revenue Agency about 7 other drivers who are also suspected of carrying out illegal activities.