Swedish Russian buses seized

The short version

• For the second night in a row, the police seized a Swedish-registered Russian bus.
• The buses are leased to Norwegian Russians through several companies and pass Swedish requirements.
• A Norwegian-registered bus can take 25 people, while a Swedish-registered bus can take up to 82.
• The seizures cost the rental companies NOK 60,000 per day, and they fear bankruptcy.

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It happened during a check at Høvik train station at 01.30.

Close by, on the E18, another Russian bus was impounded on the night of Thursday.

– Like yesterday, things here too went according to regulations and in a proper condition. Among other things, there is the number of emergency exits. There is also talk of using the unit while driving, says operations manager in Oslo police district Odd Gunnar Nysæter to VG on the night of Friday.

A representative from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration took part in the night’s inspection.

– The bus has been impounded and will be produced for inspection by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration in order to have an investigation into what is in order and what is not in order, says the operations manager.

– Approved in Sweden

Both buses are Swedish registered, and are leased to Russia through three companies.

– This creates a problem around the driver and what connection the person has to vehicles that are driven in Norway. When it comes to leasing the bus from a company, it must be the lessee who has the formal vehicle class in order, and that lessee must also be involved when driving in Norway, says the operations manager.

VG has spoken to a Russian in the group who hires the bus in question on the night of Friday. They do not wish to comment on the matter.

They have rented the bus from Buss Kompaniet. Both this bus and the one that was seized the night before are Swedish registered and owned by the company Rent4. This company has leased the buses to Buss Kompaniet, which leases them on to Sidestilt, which leases them to the Russian groups.

Scott Boje Bækkel is general manager of both Buss Kompaniet and Sidestilt. He believes that the buses they rent out to the Russians are perfectly legal to drive.

– There would not have been signs on them if they had not been approved in Sweden. Then they can also be used in Norway, below the cabotage rulesCabotage is the transport of people and goods with a domestic means of transport in a state other than where the means of transport belongs. (Source: Great Norwegian Lexicon).

I think Swedish signs are treated differently

VG has previously written about how several Norwegian buses are driven over to Sweden to be approved and registered there. The reason is simple: With Swedish approval, far more people are allowed on the bus.

A bus that legally had room for 25 people when it was Norwegian registered was allowed to have 82 people with Swedish plates.

It is this practice that the police and the Swedish Road Administration want to end, by seizing Swedish-registered buses, Bækkel believes.

– We had another bus that was stopped at Svinesund with the same type of thing. It was corrected on the spot, the difference is that it is Norwegian registered, says Bækkel.

Also read: The secret Russian offer

– I think what the police are doing is taking it a bit too far because they have been under pressure to do this. Nor have they notified us, who own the bus, that it had been seized.

The managing director of Rent4 tells VG that the Russian buses that have now been seized are made for the Swedish market.

– Our Swedish vehicles drive in Sweden all year round. They only drive in Norway for one month, the rest of the year they drive in Sweden, says general manager Dag Vemund Ljung-Haanäs.

– Are the Russian buses rebuilt before they are rented out in Sweden?

– Basically not.

– What is the market for Norwegian Russian buses in Sweden?

– It is up and coming.

Expect more buses taken in

Ivar Brandvol, author of the documentary book “Fitte og diesel” and journalist in VG, says that there are extra many Swedish-registered Russian buses this year.

– The prices of side-by-side Russian buses have exploded in recent years, because there are only 35 of them left in Norway. Therefore, creative landlords have carefully read EU rules and collect the buses from Lithuania and Sweden instead, where the rules are interpreted differently.

He expects that more of them than these two will be stopped in the future.

– The Norwegian authorities are trying to stop them by limiting the number of days they can operate in Norway, and have set a limit of 20 days this season. There will be noise when these buses are stopped, because there are many views on how the EU rules should be interpreted, says Brandvol.

Bækkel in Buss Kompaniet believes that the bus that was seized on the night of Friday did not lack emergency exits, as the Oslo police tell VG.

– There are no emergency exits missing. It meets the requirements of the country in which it is approved, and it is allowed to drive into Norway as it is, says Bækkel.

The confiscations of the last few nights will be expensive for the company, he says.

– This costs us NOK 60,000 per day, that we cannot deliver buses to the Russians who are to roll. The police are going to bankrupt our rental companies.

Tightening up, but not now

Operations manager Nysæter at the police says that they have several checks on Russian buses.

– Yes, Russian buses are something we focus on. It is not entirely unknown that these buses can have a very variable technical and warning condition. It is about the safety of the Russians and other road users, he says and adds:

– There is every reason to continue with those controls. It is regrettable that it goes beyond the Russian celebration, but unfortunately that is how it is.

Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård says the same to VG:

– It is boring that it goes beyond this Russian gang. But we cannot compromise on road safety – neither for the Russians nor for others.

A month ago, the government came up with a number of proposals which they believe will make Russian time safer. Among these was to get the Statens Vegvsesen to tighten the rules for buses with side-by-side seats. The seizures of the last few nights are not part of the austerity measures, Nygård believes.

– The Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the police make professional assessments based on the current regulations in Norway. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has been asked to investigate possible restrictions, but nothing has been introduced yet.

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