SNAIL'S PACE BY THE FRENCH
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hat do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? A stick.. .and judging by the way the French authorities are handling British hauliers' compensation claims fol lowing last December's strikes, their claims for payment look like becoming a one-way boomerang. It's going to be a long time, if ever, before anything of value comes back. The French have settled back into their old habits of procrastination, amid demands for more information, including statements from local police who did precious little to help in the first place. One can only sympathise with LTS Freight boss Neil Rivers. Having already sent tacho charts, ferry invoices and consignment notes, he was left to remark: "We don't have any more evidence!" And why should he? Quibbling over what constitutes a direct cost is merely a delaying tactic. And anyway CM would be extremely surprised if any operator would consider £245 a day "fair" compensation for all the aggravation caused by the strike, never mind whether it actually covers his direct cost. As one lawyer says:"I don't have claims where the loss is less than £250 a day." If UK hauliers are to get prompt payment of their claims for compensation it's looking increasingly likely that only threats of punitive legal action, as adopted by the Irish and Dutch road haulage asso ciations, will instill any sense of urgency in the French.