French ban is a threat to hours
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by Lee Kimber • International hauliers say they may resort to tacho cheating to beat the extra costs of complying with the tougher weekend driving ban that starts in France on 24 March.
An exemption currently allows drivers of vehicles above 7.5 tonnes to continue through France to a port if they enter the country before 22:00hrs on Saturday. From March this will end.
Hauliers that stay within the tacho regulations could incur substantial extra costs: "I'll obviously lose an awful lot if that vehicle doesn't come in on Tuesday morning," says Somerset-based Framptons managing director, Andrew Frampton. "We could end up losing a week's work on that truck."
Other international operators confirm that the costs of resting drivers in the Mediterranean or staging relief drivers in France are too high. Some say they will be forced to break the law: "If a driver's got just an hour to go to reach a port he'll go for it," says one.
The Department of Transport says there is little hope that the UK Government will be able to change French minds: the EU refused to condemn the decision because it affects everybody equally.
French transport ministers lifted the exemption to please striking French truck drivers who claimed it would give them a level playing field on which to compete against other countries.
UK operators are particularly hard hit by the move because exporters in Spain, Portugal and Italy load on a Friday night, leaving UK-bound drivers transiting France on Sunday.