The Council of State has backed a refusal by infrastructure minister Barry Madlener to allow DHL delivery drivers to park their vans on the pavement.

The ruling said the delivery service could not claim the same privilege as PostNL, which can park on pavements, because the service provided by the German-owned company is not of the same status as PostNL. PostNL is the designated national postal service and has a public function.

DHL claimed that contracted work, which falls outside the public service definition, comprises 95% of PostNL deliveries. But the Council of State said that DHL could not claim the parking exemption for its own drivers just because PostNL drivers are breaking the rules.

A DHL spokesman told the ANP news agency the company maintained the equality principle should have been applied, calling the ruling “disappointing”.