Kinnock urged to end delays in East Europe
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• EU Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock and the British Government are being urged to step in and help hauliers who are losing thousands of pounds because of Eastern Europe border delays.
Before Christmas, dozens of British lorries were in 60-mile queues on the Poland-Belarus border. One driver is said to have trapped for five days in temperatures as low as -30°C.
Frank White, owner of Penicuik-based operation Frank White, had three lorries waiting three days at the border because of frontier staff looking for "christmas bonuses" to go with their "regular backhanders" from drivers. White estimates he lost £300 a day and is angry at the inactivity of the Foreign Office and Neil Kinnock to solve the problem of border staff claiming bribes.
"It is time they got up from their seats and went with the truckers to see what goes on," he says. "Then we can catch the frontier staff red-handed."
Dan Hodges of the Road Haulage Association says the RHA hopes to meet the Foreign Office, the International Road Transport Union and the Polish and Relarus embassies to discuss the problem. "We are tired of this," he adds. "We hope to end the problem once and for all."