MEP's tale of woe from his Euro travel
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CONSERVATIVE MEP Robert Moreland who took a week off from his duties at the European Parliament to discover for himself what it is like to battle with the red-tape as a lorrydriver at Europe's frontiers, has returned to Britain, writes our Brussels correspondent.
He spent a week as a passenger in the cab of a 32.5tonne lorry and trailer, leaving Tilbury at dawn bound for Turin in Italy with a load of chemicals, furniture, carpets and engineering parts (CM, July 30).
He was seeking first-hand experiences to give him background for a report on road haulage he is preparing for the Parliament's Transport Committee. He did not go short of material.
He ran into his first hold-up at Dover, early on the Monday morning, where British customs 'officers insisted on inspecting the load to check on the chemicals originally imported from the US.
Said Mr Moreland: "The problem was that these chemicals came from outside the community and were destined for France. A form had to be stamped to confirm that we could take them out of the UK.
"The inspection meant we were delayed 40 minutes and missed the boat we had been hoping to catch.
"At Calais the French authorities were still demanding the Carnet de Passage which both the the European Parliament and the EEC Commission say is illegal.
"The Carnet de Passage is an import document, costing about £160 per year which allows you to bring a lorry into France.
"The delay meant that our lorry did not arrive in Paris in time for a Monday evening call at the customs clearance centre."
There were further problems and delays when Mr Moreland, by now feeling the strains of long-distance travel, reached the Italian border at Mount Cennis.
He reported: "Truckers were having to bribe passport officials with cigarettes to avoid undue delays and then attempts were made for further bribes. In my case the lorry driver refused to give a bribe to the officials, but they do get bribes from drivers whose permits are illegal or out of date. When we reached Turin and arrived at the customs clearing house we met with absolute bedlam. It was like something run by the Marx Brothers. There were literally hundreds of lorries waiting to be processed.
"Some of the lorries were waiting a whole day for clearance, just to have a few papers stamped.
"Fortunately my driver knew his way round the system and we were through after two or three hours."
All the delays meant that Mr Moreland was about two days late arriving back in Britain. He said: "What was most frustrating was that all our paperwork was in perfect order and there was no real reason for any hold-up."
He added: "A day's delay can cost between £350-C400. If you multiply that by the thousands of trucks and journeys being made on European roads you come up with some pretty horrifying figures of what frontier and customs delays are costing industry and the consumer in the EEC."