French still stall on blockade payments
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• UK hauliers have still not received a single penny of the £1.7m owed to them by the French in compensation after November's blockade, although two months have elapsed since the payment deadline.
A Department of Transport spokesman confirms that the French Government had promised payments four months on from the blockade— hut six months later nothing has been resolved. The Freight Transport and Road Haulage associations believe the elections on both sides of the Channel are causing the delays.
Gordon Linington, head of international affairs at the FTA, says: "This is an inevitable consequence of the change of Governments. There clearly needs to be a fresh political initiative to get moving."
The RHA's Mike Freeman agrees, but he is optimistic that the new Governments will want to resolve the issue.
However, the DOT insists that compensation comes from France's regional court system; not its national Government.
Stumbling blocks arose when the French prefectures insisted on hauliers providing detailed information to support their claims in French.
"There is a blockade, but it is a bureaucratic blockade," says Linington.