Fuel tanker owners, protesting on Tuesday outside the presidential palace, handed a memorandum to deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou demanding more time to comply with ADR requirements, but the road transport department told the Cyprus Mail the protestors had been aware of the requirements for nearly two decades.

The tanker owners are demanding President Nikos Christodoulides’ intervention over a decree issued by the transport minister that would see up to 90 per cent of fuel tankers immobilised under new ADR requirements.

About 50 trucks gathered at GSP stadium in Nicosia at 10am and proceeded to the presidential palace.

Chairman of the petrol station owners’ association Savvas Prokopiou said the owners were not against the decree, but needed more time to comply with the requirements.

“This is an issue that should have been sorted out with a timeframe,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a road transport department (TOM) representative told the Cyprus Mail that they have had 18 years to comply with the mandatory ADR requirements for the transport of flammable liquids, including a year since the transport ministry set a deadline for their compliance.

Prokopiou said most fuel tankers could be used with a few changes, while the others could be replaced through funding. Prokopiou said up to 50 tankers needed replacing and that subsidies would not exceed €4 million.

“Both the transport ministry and TOM have been saying that it is risky to let a tanker with no ADR on the roads as an accident could happen and people could die. It is a matter of safety,” the TOM representative said.

He added that the association’s position was “weak”.

Addressing the protesters, Antoniou said he would convey the memorandum to the president and that, although efforts would be made to find a solution to help the owners, safety was a priority.

According to Prokopiou, the deputy spokesman “understood the problem, understood that time is needed to implement the decree. He was positive to our issue and will return soon, I believe in a week. If necessary, we will proceed with more protests.”

The TOM representative, however, said that “for so many years they did nothing. They had a year’s notice and did nothing. And now they are protesting.”

The ADR requirements cover driver training, vehicle safety equipment and hazard marking for the road transport of dangerous goods.

The core rules focus on specific operational areas, namely driver certification, mandatory safety equipment kits and vehicle placarding. Placarding is the display of standardised warning signs, symbols and orange plates on transport units carrying hazardous materials or dangerous goods.

The road transport department said the tanker owners did not have a leg to stand on, which was why Prokopiou had said on Monday that they were in support of new regulations.

The TOM representative said the system has been in place for years and “we should have become harmonised in 2008.”

“The previous governments did not address the issue. Last year, the transport minister said they had a year to comply. They could either buy new tankers or change the use of the existing ones at TOM so that they are not registered to carry fuel. They did nothing,” he added.

He explained that there are 420 fuel tankers on the roads, of which only 80 meet the ADR requirements.

“The other 80 per cent are small ones taking heating fuel to houses and businesses,” he said.

If only a few tankers remain on the roads, consumers will need to plan ahead and not wait till the cold season to order heating fuel, he added.

In the meantime, those who do not meet the ADR requirements and are on the roads “will be stopped by the police”.

Prokopiou said that back in 2011 it had been decided that any tanker registering with the road transport department would have to comply with ADR requirements, however “this never happened”.

He added that Greece has managed to secure until June 30, 2027, to comply with the regulation, which may be extended until the tankers are replaced. “Why should we be the exception?” Prokopiou wondered.