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Blood money in Iran
Page 63
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A disaster in a foreign land is one of the worst nightmares for any haulier operating overseas. In recent years the most high-profile cases have involved UK drivers arrested and imprisoned in France after drugs were found in their loads. There may be harmonisation in the European Union, but this doesn't seem to have done much good for drivers imprisoned abroad for drugs found in their loads, even when they did not load them and the trailer was sealed.
UK-based drivers take loads beyond Europe's borders far less frequently than they once did, but when they did so some found themselves in some difficult situations. Ray Grocott, chairman of GroContinental, says the worse case he can remember was that of a driver in the 1970s (not working for GroContinental), who was involved in an accident in Iran in which a child was killed. The driver was arrested even though Grocott says "it wasn't really his fault", and only released after £1,000 in blood money had been paid to the child's family. Blood money may seem a strange concept in the 21st century, but it is still common in some parts of the world as any driver working there should be aware.