Truck drivers from East-European countries, including Bulgaria, were literally looking for any reason to be forced to rest and have food, without being punished for delays by their employers, Daily Post said in an article entitled “Arrest me so I can sleep say drivers”.

A Bulgarian truck driver was stopped by UK police several days ago and found to have driven for 36 hours with just two short breaks, Welsh newspaper Daily Post said on October 30, as quoted by Bulgarian daily Dnevnik.

“Fearing the sack from unscrupulous bosses if they stop voluntarily, they dial 999 as they drive along giving details of their registration and where they are,” the Welsh newspaper said. It cited the chief superintendent Geraint Anwyl, who was also chairman of the National Roads Policing Intelligence Forum in the UK, saying that drivers were calling themselves “dangerous” and praying to be stopped. Some of the truckers were even promising they would quit their job and never again work for such employers, Anwyl said.

He said the drivers were arrested and charged with failing to keep a proper driving record or not observing tachograph readings, which showed them when they should have rests while on route. “The driver gets a nice warm cell with a proper bed and hot breakfast in the morning before going to court,” Anwyl said and added it was the first proper rest the drivers had had for days.

UK traffic police statistics showed that in 2006 one quarter of foreign truck drivers checked were working over the maximum number of hours allowed between breaks.