Bulgarian road carriers have backtracked on their threat to block Sofia's exits after the authorities agreed to relax a planned expansion of restrictions on traffic.

The road carriers on Tuesday threatened to block Sofia's exits at 3pm on Friday after the government’s Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) said it would ban the traffic of heavy trucks on an additional number of main and secondary roads on Fridays and Sundays during the peak summer holiday season to cut the number of road accidents.

Following a meeting between RIA officials and road carriers on Wednesday afternoon an agreement was reached to add fewer roads to the expanded list than originally announced by RIA on Tuesday, Trud daily quoted the Chair of the National Association of Bulgarian Road Carriers, Krasimir Lalov, as saying.

The traffic ban for trucks of over 12 tonnes remains in force on Fridays 6-9pm and Sundays 2-8pm for the highways until September 15, RIA said in a statement. Restrictions also remain in force for eight main roads and four secondary roads.