The cost of unrest
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Atotal of 439 vehicles were hijacked this year during the eight days from 5-13 July. Trucks were targeted by rioters and used to block major routes. Three drivers—who wish to remain anonymous—shared their experiences.
One driver was asleep in his truck behind a filling station in County Monaghan in the Irish Republic when three men broke into his cab. A gun was held to his head and he was warned to "play the game" to avoid harm. His captors drove his truck into Northern Ireland. At one point they stopped the vehicle and led him to believe they were putting a bomb in the trailer. The driver escaped unhurt but admits he found it hard to get into a truck again.
• A driver stopped his truck when armed, masked men emerged from roadside bushes and stood in his path. He was ordered out of his cab at gunpoint and his truck was reversed across the road and set on fire.
• Outside Newry, a driver was on a steep Incline when three gunmen walked onto the road in front of him and forced him to stop. He was told to get out of the truck, which was then doused in petrol and set ablaze before he was "10 feet away".