Air guns and pepper spray: Flemish Finance Minister Matthias Diependaele (N-VA) wants to equip the officials of the Flemish tax authorities with these weapons.
There are not that many of them: five cars painted in white-yellow, with the Vlabel Control logo on them, and six motards, which can intercept trucks and cars on the highway. They do this if they determine through road weigh strips that the truck is overloaded, or if it is clear through number plate recognition that the vehicle has not paid road tax. They can also monitor vehicle emissions and detect fuel tampering.
It’s a job with spirit, because the fines can be high, up to 5,000 euros, to be paid immediately or the vehicle has to be pulled over. As a result, some drivers react aggressively. One official was even hospitalized last year with a bruised eyebrow and a concussion.
That is why the Flemish Minister of Finance, Matthias Diependaele (N-VA), wants the officials of the Flemish tax authorities (Vlabel) to be equipped with air guns during their checks. He said that on Sunday VTM News.
Official permission has been requested from Federal Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD). He would soon submit the question to the government.
Course
According to figures from the Diependaele cabinet, there were 19 incidents in 2021, half of which involved verbal aggression. In the other half of the cases, it escalated into physical violence. Last year there were 38 incidents, two thirds of which involved violence. There would also be drivers who do not immediately notice the difference with the police, and who therefore immediately react aggressively and try to run over the officials.
The minister says that the inspectors on the road, who do the interceptions, should ‘obviously’ follow a training course before they are allowed on the road with the weapon. “These are defensive weapons, which cannot kill anyone, but which already have sufficient effect in terms of deterrence,” said the minister. The inspectors would also receive pepper spray and handcuffs. The officials who draw up the PVs would only get the pepper spray.
Diependaele points out that the number of drivers who do not pay road tax has fallen as a result of these checks, from 3 to 0.6 percent, or a profit of more than 33 million euros.
