French set up more blocks, this time over hours limits
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by Miles Brignall Thousands of British trucks have once again been stranded in France after major border crossing points were closed by hauliers protesting at the introduction of a 35-hour working week for drivers.
As CM went to press the predicted 24hour stoppage had spilled over into a second day and many UK hauliers, unaware that blockades were still in force, had started sending vehicles over to Calais.
While the Channel ports and tunnel were largely unaffected, all the major border points with Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg remained closed into a second day.
At one stage a 64km queue built up at an Italian border crossing, and the Frejus tunnel was brought to a standstill. Drivers heading into the Alpine region faced a long day in the cold with many complaining that the action had started a night earlier than predicted.
The blockade, organised by the French equivalents of the Freight Transport and Road Haulage associations, is primarily directed at the French Government's plan to introduce a 35-hour working week for drivers, which the operators say will make them uncompetitive. French hauliers are also angered by a proposed 3p.litre increase in diesel. Ironically, much of the long dispute of 1996 which brought the country to a standstill was instigated by French drivers who were fighting to reduce their working week to 35 hours.
The FTA and RHA have denounced the action, calling on the French government to intervene to keep the roads open. As with previous strikes. French gendarmes looked on and did not intervene. Many drivers caught up in the blockade reported a "carnival atmosphere" among the French drivers enjoying a day off and few reports of violence.
• Mike Freeman of the PHA's international department warns that this dispute will not go away overnight—UK international opera
tors should be ready for more disruption over the coming months.
• One driver working for Ripley-based Classic Vehicle Recovery spent two days and nights stuck on the A27 motorway in the South of France without access to a toilet. According to Classic's owner David Smith, who had a quarter of his fleet stuck in France, his driver and four others from the UK finally reversed 7km back up the motorway and took to the back roads. "We've already lost our .£1.000 backload from Germany." says Smith.