President's plan for jailed drivers
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by Karen Miles • The campaign to win bail for UK truck drivers awaiting trial on the Continent has been boosted by the European Commission, which has promised to look into the problem. This follows driver Roy Clarke's acquittal by a Spanish court on drugs charges—he spent 20 months on remand in Malaga jail.
Spain, which holds the EC presidency, says "the disagreeable reality" of refusing bail to citizens from other EU states needs to be examined. In a letter to Thames Valley Euro-MP John Stevens, Spanish justice minister Juan Baloch says: "Without doubt these problems need to be studied at the bosom of the European Union."
This letter has been welcomed by pressure group Fair Trials Aboard, which estimates that up to 3,000 EU citizens, including many truck drivers, are awaiting trial in jails throughout the EU.
David Higginbottom, general-secretary of the United Road Transport Union, says: "The Government must perform its duty and the road transport industry, in particular, must take steps to protect its own workers. The professional lorry driver is no more responsible for the contents of the load he carries than the postman who delivers sealed packages to your door or mine."