Now hauliers face Italian road chaos
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• British truckers going to Italy in the next fortnight could face chaos as bad as that seen in Spain last month as Italian hauliers, Customs officials and filling station attendants launch a series of strikes.
Customs officers will stop work this Friday and Saturday (9-10 November); fuel pump attendants go out from 13-17 November; and transport operators 19-26 November.
The Road Haulage Association says hauliers should plan accordingly, warning that "difficulties at the Italian border similar to those encountered in Spain cannot be ruled out".
The Customs dispute has been going on for some weeks, and the Italian-Austrian border has been closed almost continuously. The disputes are embarrassing for the Italian government, which currently holds the EC presidency. EC transport commissioner Karel van Miert recently condemned Italy as "anti-Communitaire" for failing to end the action.
Meanwhile, moves by Spain to join the so-called Schengen open-frontier agreement between France, Germany and the Benelux countries, will have little effect on hauliers going from France to Spain.
The deal, which Spain wants to launch early next year, effectively does away with borders for motorists, but truck drivers are still likely to face queues for Customs.
LI Haulier Mike Pickering is still calling for a one-day operators' strike over losses incurred by the Spanish dispute.