Ban on lorries on Saturdays during the holiday travel season; applying for an exemption

To protect holiday travel, in addition to the ban on driving on Sundays and public holidays, there is a ban on lorries under the Holiday Travel Regulations. This applies to the commercial or paid transport of goods by lorries with a maximum authorised mass exceeding 7.5 tonnes, as well as to lorries with trailers, and to associated empty runs. The driving ban applies on all Saturdays from 1 July up to and including 31 August each year, between 7.00 am and 8.00 pm, on all motorways and federal roads specified in the Holiday Travel Regulation.

During this period, transport must be diverted to the secondary network of federal, state and district roads. An exemption may only be granted if these alternative routes cannot be used (e.g. due to a ban on lorries or a ban on the transport of dangerous goods) or if it is absolutely necessary to use the motorway (e.g. to supply motorway service stations).

However, such exemptions may only be granted if there is a public interest in the journey being carried out during the restricted period (e.g. dealing with emergencies, supplying the public) or if the refusal of the permit would constitute an unreasonable hardship for the applicant and evidence is provided that transport is not possible either by other means of transport or outside the restricted period. Commercial or competitive reasons alone cannot justify exemptions.

Supporting evidence must be provided.

In particular, the ban on lorries does not apply to

• combined rail-road freight transport from the consignor to the nearest loading station or from the nearest unloading station to the consignee,
• combined port-road freight transport between a loading or unloading point and a port situated within a radius of no more than 150 kilometres (delivery to or from the port),
• Consignments of fresh milk and fresh milk products, fresh meat and fresh meat products, fresh fish, live fish and fresh fish products, perishable fruit and vegetables,
• the urgent deployment of recovery, towing and breakdown assistance vehicles,
• the transport of live bees,
• Fairground entertainers.