The Social Chamber of the TSJPV has sentenced a company to pay a fine of more than 20,000 euros to a truck driver for assigning him a truck with an unfavorable ITV, violating his right to physical integrity.
In recent months, the General Directorate of Traffic has intensified the control of vehicles without the ITV in force, since there are many drivers who circulate without having passed the corresponding technical inspection. Now we have learned of the fine imposed for driving a truck without a valid ITV: more than 20,000 euros.
According to the DGT, in 2021, 40% of the vehicles that should pass the technical inspection did not. This means four out of every ten drivers, which represents a record of absenteeism in the technical inspection of vehicles, since until now it was around 20%.
These are worrying data, since these are vehicles that circulate on Spanish roads without anyone having checked that they meet the minimum safety standards.
As the DGT recalls, “the good condition of a vehicle is not always enough to prevent traffic accidents, but the truth is that inspections do discover hidden problems that can lead to a fatal accident on the road.”
20,000 euros of fine for driving a truck without the ITV in force
In reality, the fine was not imposed on a driver, but on a company in the construction and transport sector, Excavaciones Imanol Lasa, from Irún, which had assigned a truck with an unfavorable ITV and a disqualification to drive on the road. public, as reported by the Basque union ELA in a statement.
Although there was no accident, the Social Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the Basque Country considered that assigning a disabled vehicle to drive a worker constitutes a violation of the regulations on risk prevention and, therefore, a violation of the right to life and physical integrity.
For the TSJPV, “the driving time (53 kilometers without MOT) is long enough for a worker to be at risk due to the faults detected.” Specifically, the company will have to pay 20,491 euros to the trucker for moral damages, for violating their right to physical integrity.
Sentence “very positive”
To set the compensation for having the ITV of the truck expired, the judge has also taken into account that the company had previously been sentenced for loading the trucks exceeding the Maximum Authorized Weight.
The Bidelagun Foundation of ELA, which provides training in occupational risk prevention and which has been in charge of the judicial management of this case, considers this sentence “very positive”, by valuing the right to physical integrity for the simple submission to a risk, without the need for an accident to occur.
