Dutch double down on AdBlue fraud

Authorities in the Netherlands are clamping down on AdBlue fraud, with fines totalling €8,000 being levied for a single offence.

Dutch magazine TTM.nl reported how specialist officials from the infrastructure unit of the National Police stopped a Bulgarian-registered but Dutch-owned artic on the A28 near Beilen. They noted that the AdBlue gauge indicated ‘full’ and an engine management warning lamp was on.

The 58-year-old Bulgarian driver was asked to unlock the AdBlue tank, so the fluid quality could be checked, but he did not have the key. Roadside tests indicated at least three faults in the exhaust aftertreatment system, and the truck was recovered to a workshop in Zwolle for further examination. Here it was found that the entire emissions control system had been disconnected.

Questioned, the driver said he had been in the truck for four weeks and had never refilled the AdBlue tank. The truck was impounded and will not be released until repaired, with the driver being fined €500 and the company owner €7,500.