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SMV extorted by Spanish Border Patrol


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This one is from Talkbass..


Seems that SMV, when on tour, were stopped by Spanish border cops..

This goes from Vic's phone:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMAs3VKtRLE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMAs3VKtRLE[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csj4-pD9prI&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csj4-pD9prI...feature=related[/url]



One of the most interesting comments I spotted:

[i]May I give you non-european guys some basic background info before anyone draws premature conclusions....and gettin all spiced up on the ****ing corrupt europeans or the basque separatist thing.

First this incident had nothing to do with the border. Actually there are no borders within Europe between countries that signed the Schengen agreement. This is dated ca. 1985. So there is no such thing like a spanish-french-basque whatever border control!

So obviously what happend was, that a regular police check was performed on the bus (checking papers and stuff...) incidentally near the border.

Europeans have some strict regulations on commercial / freight traffic especially when it comes to speeding and driving hours of the driver.

Each bus/truck is equipped with a tachograph (recording of driving speed and hour).

When a bus/truck is pulled over the police requests the tachograph recordings of the last 28 days and can easily fine each violation.

What happend is that the bus driver is charged with a working time violation he had past month and he was fined for it € 2,000.00! That´s it!

(All this becomes quite clear from the german conversation of the bus driver)

Because we europeans consider sleepy bus drivers as one of the highest risk factors for fatal crashes these things are strictly enforced and fined heftily. Actually € 2,000 is quite modest for a over-time violation, they can go up to 10-15k !

So why were they not allowed to continue their travel and go on?
- Simply because the bus was under a foreign license (probable german).
The spanish authorities will have a hard / next to impossible time to collect the fine once the bus is back in its home country.
So it is a very standard procedure that the vehicle is "arrested" (sorry for lack of any better word) until the fine is paid in full.

Actually there is no legal basis for foreign authorities to collect money across european borders. Thats why all my holiday tickets get dumped unpaid.

The fact that they got an official written receipt makes me almost 100% positive that they just got a regular legit fine.

If there is anything fishy about the whole thing then IMHO it can only be the bus driver who tries to rip off SMV crew to make them pay for his own (past) ****-up![/i]

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This is interesting as whilst not wishing to tar all Spanish cops with the same brush....

A friend's 21 year old son went out to a spanish holiday resport last week for his birthday with a group of friends and his girlfriend. On the second night he got separated from his group so decided to walk back to the Hotel. He hadn't been in any trouble that night but admits he'd had a few.
He was stopped by the Guardia Civil, who without warning pistol whipped him on his head, stole all his money and camera. They then panicked due to all the blood ( he has a pistol impression on his skull and a black eye) and took him to hospital where he got triaged to the front of the queue due to his injuries.
His mother has had to arrange flights back for him (£300) and his girlfriend and because he was too scared to report it to the Police in Spain, it will be very difficult to claim anything back. He has subsequently had to go to hospital in this country to get checked up.
He spoke to the T Cook rep in his report before he left for home and they said it was commonplace and happens all the time.......

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I can't believe what I read on TB. The EU folks are dishing out facts, and some people (step forward, Jauquowowo XXXXVVVVMMCXX) are choosing to totally ignore it.

I notice one guy posted a comment on YouTube, but it was never approved. I've posted one too, but I don't expect to see it appear..

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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='546614' date='Jul 21 2009, 05:47 PM']I can't believe what I read on TB. The EU folks are dishing out facts, and some people (step forward, Jauquowowo XXXXVVVVMMCXX) are choosing to totally ignore it.[/quote]


Yup, that folk is just gorgeous..


"He has just spoken to Vic", you see... Vic couldn't understand a damn thing about situation too, FFS...

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I would have cancelled the tour gone home and had a few beers.... :)

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='546765' date='Jul 21 2009, 05:32 PM']Curious how this will play out. Will Victor Wooten admit he was wrong? It's obvious why he'd make the mistake, but it's about admitting it in the end.[/quote]

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Hot God-damn! Well, them Eurotrash really screwed the pooch this time! I thought General Jack Pershing killed all these gun-waving Mexican Federales in 1915, but he must have missed a few of them God-damn curry-eating Frogs!!

Doesn't this General Franco realise that, if it wasn't for the US, he'd be speaking Jap right now? This kind of brutal official, unofficial free-lance mugging of innocent American citizens innocently employing an innocent dodgy driver WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!!

I demand that our Commander-In-Chief, President Obama, despatch the Sixth Fleet to bombard Copenhagen immediately. Send these pasta-eating Berliner sonsabitches to Gitmo!!!! See if they like the food in Africa, yeah?

And now I'm hearing rumours that the Spaniards would like Victor back as they'd like to offer [i]him[/i] some slapping lessons! WTF?

Edited by skankdelvar
  • Haha 1
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[quote name='wateroftyne' post='546614' date='Jul 21 2009, 03:47 PM']I can't believe what I read on TB. The EU folks are dishing out facts, and some people (step forward, Jauquowowo XXXXVVVVMMCXX) are choosing to totally ignore it.

I notice one guy posted a comment on YouTube, but it was never approved. I've posted one too, but I don't expect to see it appear..[/quote]

JACUOIIXIXIIXIIIXXXIIX won't listen to anyone, his head is too far up his own ass.

The lengths people will go to to not have to listen to Vic Wooten :)

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[quote name='skankdelvar' post='546825' date='Jul 21 2009, 08:24 PM']Hot God-damn! Well, them Eurotrash really screwed the pooch this time! I thought General Jack Pershing killed all these gun-waving Mexican Federales in 1915, but he must have missed a few of them God-damn curry-eating Frogs!!

Doesn't this General Franco realise that, if it wasn't for the US, he'd be speaking Jap right now? This kind of brutal official, unofficial free-lance mugging of innocent American citizens innocently employing an innocent dodgy driver WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!!!

I demand that our Commander-In-Chief, President Obama, despatch the Sixth Fleet to bombard Copenhagen immediately. Send these pasta-eating Berliner sonsabitches to Gitmo!!!! See if they like the food in Africa, yeah?

And now I'm hearing rumours that the Spaniards would like Victor back as they'd like to offer [i]him[/i] some slapping lessons! WTF?[/quote]

:)

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[quote name='Protium' post='546842' date='Jul 21 2009, 06:42 PM']JACUOIIXIXIIXIIIXXXIIX won't listen to anyone, his head is too far up his own ass.

The lengths people will go to to not have to listen to Vic Wooten :)[/quote]He is a total tit isn't he, what makes it worse his music stinks and he name drops constantly.

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I find it interesting that in the first few minutes of the video VW is asking his entourage what's going on - and most of them admit they don't know but also claim it's a shakedown and that they're "getting jacked".

Time to get someone on the bus who knows something about anything.

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I can't see how Jaquo III-X can argue with the facts that were stated in the thread.
The Driver of the tour bus was in the wrong and the police fined them. It's not difficult is it?

Oh wait,it is,because obviously SMV are famous and were stopped because the police wanted money-Jaquo III-X said so. Let's be honest
the Spanish police probably didn't give a crap who was on the bus,they were just doing their job.

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[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='547130' date='Jul 21 2009, 11:00 PM']I've asked for clarification from people involved about what's gone on.[/quote]

What clarification is required?

The driver broke the law and was fined appropriately. The police followed standard and required procedure in collecting the fine on the spot.

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[quote name='dlloyd' post='547150' date='Jul 21 2009, 11:11 PM']What clarification is required?

The driver broke the law and was fined appropriately. The police followed standard and required procedure in collecting the fine on the spot.[/quote]
Clarification on the assertions and speculation being made by people who aren't in possession of all the facts? :)

I'm collecting more facts.

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[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='547175' date='Jul 21 2009, 11:40 PM']Clarification on the assertions and speculation being made by people who aren't in possession of all the facts? :)

I'm collecting more facts.[/quote]

He got a fine of €2000, which is the maximum amount for driving (as calculated by a talkbass poster):

5 hours and 24 minutes or more without rest
or 10 hours and 48 minutes in one day with or without rest
or 67 hours and 12 minutes in one week with or without rest
or 108 hours in two weeks with or without rest

Two drivers or not, a look at their tour dates would suggest those were easy targets to hit:

July 3 Paris France
July 4 Strasbourg France
July 5 Vienne France
July 6 Montreaux Switzerland
July 8 Istanbul Turkey
July 9 Belgrade Serbia
July 11 Rotterdam Netherlands
July 15 Juan Les Pins France
July 16 Vittoria Gasteiz Spain
July 17 Stockholm Sweden
July 18 Pori Finland
July 22 Patrimonio France (Corsica)
July 24 Oeiras Portugal
Aug 2 Marciac France

(although there is a suggestion on the talkbass boards that the offence was committed before this tour...)

Edited by dlloyd
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Well lets just see what those involved have to say, hmm? The Talkbassers can speculate as much as they like.

I've already been in touch with SMV's manager and she's says the coach company has proved to be reliable in the past and that the tachygraph was fine. There are also two drivers on board the coach who sleep in shifts. However she suggested I get in contact with Victor himself which I've done.

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Point is, you can't just post videos and make allegations.

The YouTube video is titled "SMV gets robbed by Spanish Border Police". Which part of this is correct? "SMV" "robbed" or Spanish Border police". SMV weren't directly involved as the problem was nothing to do with the passengers on the bus. "Robbed" quite an allegation in itself and "Spanish Border Police" don't exist.

Putting the video up on YouTube was hasty as best and dangerous at worst. I hope there's a further video giving the full story as the Americans on TB have got themselves in quite a tizz :)

On TB there are also allegations of Mr.Wooten censuring comments to the video. The plot thickens. Certainly livened up a Tuesday night though.

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