On the other hand, local authorities decided to tax transporters for transiting cities, without taking into account that there are no ring roads. After a week in which carriers did not receive their authorizations, the National Union of Road Hauliers from Romania (UNTRR) warned that without these documents hauliers would lose customers.
UNTRR emphasized that the activity of a significant number of transport companies was blocked, and that some trucks were already loaded and en route to destinations that could not be reached without authorizations. The result of this complaint was a half-hearted solution: on 18th of December, some authorizations were issued, but without clarifying when will this process retake its past routine. Another problem faced by transporters was caused by decisions of the Timi¿oara, Cluj and Giurgiu city councils aimed at introducing transit tolls for heavy goods vehicles.
Responding to this, the Romanian Federation of Transport Operators (FORT) asked the Ministry of Administration and Interior to engage quickly in stopping these abuses and to cancel the decisions of city councils. „We have to transit the cities because there are no ring roads that can be used to avoid crossing the cities. We agree, however, that cities surrounded by the ring roads may impose charges for transit,“ said Augustin Hagiu, president of FORT.
