France eases truck ban
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• France is allowing hauliers returning to Calais from Belgium to break its ban on Sunday driving if they carry a letter confirming they are to sail home, Operators can now drive along the A16 (E40) between Calais and the French/Belgian border at Ghyvelde on Sundays and public holidays.
The ferry companies are issuing drivers with the authorising letters as they leave the UK. On their return the letters must be stamped at the border post at Ghyvelde to allow passage through to Calais. A roadside stamping machine is in place.
The move will help international operators returning from southern Europe via Germany and Belgium, sailing to the UK
from Calais—but Luxembourg has responded to the French Sunday driving ban with its own restriction on all trucks weighing more than 3.5 tonnes.
Trucks are no longer allowed to enter the Grand Duchy between 22:00hrs Saturday and 22:00hrs Sunday or on public holidays. But unusually the ban only applies to trucks heading for France: those going to Belgium are unaffected.
The move could to be designed to stop Luxembourg becoming a giant car park for hauliers waiting until Sunday night before carrying on journeys into France. They are not allowed to park on the public highways but must return to the countries they came from.