Ukrainian truck halted on Bulgaria's Trakia highway over unsafe tires

During a specialised police operation on the Trakia motorway, a Ukrainian heavy‑goods vehicle was stopped at the 213‑km mark after officers discovered that both the tractor unit and its semi‑trailer were fitted with severely worn tyres, many of which lacked any tread. Police chief Pavel Valov of the Stara Zagora traffic police noted that the condition made the truck a serious risk for other road users and that the vehicle had entered the EU’s internal border without being checked. The 46‑year‑old driver received a €255 fine and the truck will remain out of service until seven tyres are replaced.

A separate investigation by Bulgaria’s National Toll Management Agency revealed unusual patterns in the same truck’s movements in the week before a fatal crash on the same highway. Prof. Oleg Asenov described the vehicle’s schedule as “regular and symmetric, like a bus line,” noting frequent trips with little or no load and speeds close to or exceeding limits. The agency is developing an analytical system to flag vehicles with risky profiles and to enforce stricter technical inspections.

The checks are part of a broader crackdown following a series of serious truck accidents on the Trakia route that have caused multiple deaths and injuries.