W ar in Yugoslavia has left just one financially practicable route
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from the UK to the Orient— via Belgium, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and beyond.
Borders within the European Community are now a dream come true; just slow down and you're through. Eastern Europe might be politically open, but entering it is often a nightmare. In the old, cold days, the frontiers between east and west were impregnable steel barriers reached by meandering back roads overlooked by guards in watch towers. Passing traffic was limited.
Now that previously inaccessible markets are open, traffic has grown significantly. Although the watch towers are now vacant and the steel barriers permanently open, those tiny border posts and the narrow roads leading to them simply cannot cope. Add a plethora of cars and coaches and the resultant paralysis causes huge delays.
Hungarian customs are notoriously slow, especial y at night. Long queues are normal. It might be a logical assumption that slowing the rate of entry down to a trickle will keep the volume of foreign trucks on Hungarian roads down to a safe, limited damage level. Unfortunately, that logic is flawed— it still takes hours to enter even when there is no queue at all.
Romania used to be avoided in favour of what was Yugoslavia, quicker option. But from an in point of view that area is now t pariah of Europe and no weste underwriter will touch it with bargepole. It is still possible to through the new Yugo states bi tax is extortionate as is the dul border insurance they offer in write one of them off. If you vri your own truck, tough.
Except for the smattering of guarded TIR camps en route, n is safe in Romania, even the ho police tell you that. The blame incessant robberies from foreii trucks lies, we are told, with tt gypsies, as though that race is ext-epumnal nutgwoomehow t
from what is otherwise a law-abiding population.
However, while much of the populace is indeed poverty-stricken despite numerous well-intended but somewhat naive charity fun-runs to alleviate the situation, the vast majority of Romanians strongly believe that, unless something is welded to the ground, it is theirs. The TIR driver can do nothing about this nor can he correct the corrupt authorities which only exacerbate this lawlessness. But he has to contend with both.
DIABOLICAL
It is not unusual to have to stay awake all day and night in Romania, because it is not safe to stop, especially near a border. You must then drive like hell over diabolical roads to get out again through Guirgui or reach the relative safety of a TIR park. That is both dangerous and illegal but move you must. And before the men in grey suits at the Ministry of Wheels pounce on every truck bearing a TER plate, we are talking about the real world.
The morning of 13 April was like any other on the road out of Guirgui to the frontier post. Belching Romanian trucks and overcrowded buses, gypsies tracking whips over tired ponies pulling ramshackle carts and swarms of Dacias, the state-built car, all wallowed in and out of ubiquitous potholes. In stark contrast, at the side of the road stood a stationary line, five kilometres long, of TIR trucks. During the next two hours that line sporadically moved 300 metres. At that rate it would have taken 24 hours to get through the border.
To stay vigilant for another 24 hours is difficult if not impossible, The nearest TIR park is five hours' drive before Guirgui, which means you have to leave it at 03:00hrs to endure the anticipated queue in daylight hours.
Thieves hate light. It is well known that, when night falls at Guirgui — exactly like Calafat, the only other practical border to Bulgaria — the 'gypsies' sneak up on the line of trucks, slash tilts and smash trailer boxes robbing both. CMR insurance covers a last load so, relatively speaking, that is not the end of the world. A slashed tilt is. The trailer is no longer under customs bond as the seal has been broken. That is a problem.
Thieving is made easy by thoroughly corrupt police and drivers eventually becoming so tired they simply pass out. If you do remain clinically awake, your ability to guard your vehicle is little more than token. But now the Guirgui 'mafia', as they call themselves, have adopted a new tactic which operates in broad daylight.
A Dacia containing two men pulls alongside a chosen truck, Any western one will do. The passenger, who has a permanent smile, gets out to greet the driver. He is dressed in designer anorak. Reebok trainers and Pringle sweater. This man is no gypsy.
He delivers a sales pitch about the futility of waiting in the line until nightfall when (and the permanent smile vanishes for lust a spilt second) the truck will be robbed, maybe the windscreen smashed, perhaps the driver smashed too. For 100 Deutschmarks this man will 'escort' the driver and his truck past the line to the customs bai-rier at the border. The police, he says, rubbing thumb and forefinger, meaning money, will be no problem. "Trust me," he implores.
Trust does not come readily to the cynical mind of the experienced TER driver but the message is clear. Staying in the line means he will be robbed anyway, by jumping it he will be under the noses of the police and soldiers at the barrier if the 'mafia' get rough. He will also have saved himself a mind-numbing 24hour wait, perhaps.
With headlights blazing. hazards flashing and horn blaring, the escort Dacia will lead the truck at great speed to the front of the line, almost. Fifty metres from it the truck is stopped in the middle of the road always abreast of a Romanian truck in the line. As the mafia man ensures the line begins to move again, he screams at the terrified Romanian trucker in his native tongue to remain stationary. The queue jumper then blends into the line by occupying the newly mateapace. He is now out of sight of the suspicious looking police and soldiers at the barrier. That is when the fun starts.
The two mafia men suddenly become six or seven. They swarm all over the truck and into it. The agreed 100DM is now not enough. Violent demands are made for 500. The windscreen is punched threateningly, the tab is rifled. If that yields no booty the driver is yanked across his cab and punched repeatedly'. At the same time he will feel a sharp point in his neck. The wallet tucked between his belt and stomach will be wrenched free and emptied. He might feel a sense of muted relief that the bulk of his cash is hidden in the truck's locked safe but they might grab the keys. The engine is still running, his heart is racing, his mind greying. A voice in his head screams, "Pull out of the line. Be seen?"
ARMED SOLDIERS
The robbing continues but the police and armed soldiers not 50 metres away just look the other way. A prayer is answered. The line moves. The two trucks in front pass the barrier into the compound. One more to go. The line slows. "Please don't stop." It does. The barrier comes down. Suddenly the violence stops. Most of the gang disappear. The 'escort' remains. He quietens down. There are too many witnesses now other travellers, soldiers too close to ignore anything.
A policeman nonchalantly saunters up the tine. "How much have you given these people?"
lie is surprised, even horrified, at the reply. Ile signals to the 'escort'. The two men walk towards the barrier A heated conversation takes place. Something is seen to pass between them. The policeman inserts a clenched fist into his tunic pocket. It reappears, open, minus the banknote which the pocket now conceals. What a way to run a country
BUREAUCRATS
Perhaps now the bodies which represent our industry can persuade the Brussels bureaucrats effectively to address the real problems of international road transport? Such as the ones above which this writer, although he should have known better, actually experienced at a cost of 300DM to save 21 hours.
The safe and speedy movement of cargo is vital to all our economies. Could we not fund the obvious improvements needed to eastern European borders or must we wait for the Vance/Owen peace pact to work so we can all go east via Yugoslavia again?
From a road haulage viewpoint the sooner the whole the lot of them are members of the European Community the better.