French renew truck blitz
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• A British truck was attacked by farmers in the South of France on Sunday while local police stood by and watched.
A mob of 200 farmers hijacked owner-driver Thomas Scott's Volvo at Salon de Provence and burnt half of its 23-tonne load of apples. Riot police stepped in only when the farmers started pelting a cabinet minister's house with the remaining apples.
Jedburgh, Borders-based Scott was unhurt, but almost all the load was lost. It was being moved from Italy to Madrid for Cheltenham-based haulier Ralph Davies International.
Director Ralph Davies is furious that the authorities did not take tougher action: "It seems the police are happy to sit back and let people do what they like in these situations," he says, adding that the company's insurers will try to win damages from the French government. Six years ago another of its vehicles was attacked by French farmers.
The Road Haulage Association has renewed its call for British hauliers operating in France to be protected. Describing the attack as "unacceptable", the association says that the French seem "unable to maintain the requirements of the Treaty of Rome." This latest move against British hauliers came just before an attempted blockade of Paris, as French farmers tried to force their government to black EC agricultural reforms. French Interior Minister Paul QuiIles had warned that tanks might be used to break through the barricades of tractors.