Spain: counting the cost
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• At the bar beside old Vitoria airport in northern Spain on Saturday, the only English voice was from the record on the jukebox. Just 24 hours after Spanish hauliers lifted their 11-day blockade of truck movements, the 50 British drivers who had been among 400 TIR truckers holed-up on the disused airfield were on their way home.
Two hours up the road at the French border, Irun had returned to being a sleepy frontier town, yet, that morning, Rotherham owner-operator Mick Blunt had had his tractor set on fire by Spanish pickets — eight hours after the strike had been called off. Blunt, who had been stranded over a week, was celebrating the ending of the dispute with other truck drivers. Later that afternoon lorries were passing through the border with minimum fuss.
But the controversy is far from over for many of the Britons it affected. They want compensation from the Spanish government for damage to their trucks and loss of revenue caused by the blockade. Some are even warning of reprisals against Spanish drivers in this country.
This week hauliers are counting the cost of the strike, which began over two weeks ago when Spanish operators started protesting against their government's refusal to compensate them for the rise in diesel prices, and its decision to remove subsidies.
Blunt, who managed to drive his truck home despite the damage, says loss of earnings, replacement of nine tyres and repairs to his cab will cost him £20,000. His Mercedes tractor was pulling a load out of Spain for Hargrave International when the dispute began.
He recalls returning from the bar in the early hours of Saturday and seeing a crowd round his truck. "As I got closer, I saw puffs of smoke. There was a Dutch ply in my cab trying to put the flames out. The pickets had broken in through the passenger door, set fire to clothes I had hanging up, and pushed them into the middle," he says. He is scornful of the actions of the police, who he alleges sat or slept in their van most nights, 200m from the parked trucks. Meanwhile, Spanish strikers roamed between the vehicles banging on doors and intimidating drivers, says Blunt.
CED of Manchester had 11 of its trucks caught up in the strike and estimates it has lost .230,000. Pickets barred one of its trucks from leaving a factory in Lugo where it had just loaded, and one of its drivers narrowly escaped serious injury when protesters swung a hammer tied by a chain to a roadside pole at his truck as he led a convoy towards the border.
"The first thing I saw was people in the road," says Andy Pemberton. "They were running towards me and I slowed to 121unth, moved to the middle of the road and put on my hazards. I noticed something in the air like a shot putt hammer. I jabbed the brakes. It hit the front corner below the windscreen."
Then, says Pemberton, he saw someone level what he thought was a gun. "I put my foot down. I was terrified. One was in front of me and I thought If you're still there when my wagon reaches you, you're finished'. I ran on about 10km and parked with some Spanish international boys who looked after me. The others in my convoy were stopped."
Pemberton says drivers had to stay awake all night where trucks were parked up to stop locals pilfering. Food almost ran out and he says riot police didn't arrive until Wednesday of last week (17 October) when they began firing rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters. He saw one picket lifted "two feet off the ground" after being hit with a rubber bullet.
Mick Pickering of Loughborough lost £2,800 through his two tractive units being . trapped in Spain. One had a brick thrown through its windscreen. John Wise of Sussex faces an 218,000 repair bill after his truck was almost forced off the road by protesters, both are writing to other hauliers caught up in the dispute in a bid to launch a united campaign for compensation from Spain — they are angered by what they describe as the apathetic mood of many of the operators involved.
Stewart Taylor International of Blackburn had nine reefers in Spain. It has lost 12 tyres and four windscreens and estimates damage at £8,000 with £20,000 loss of revenue. Five of the trucks were on their way to Spanish customers with loads.
All the loads were delivered, but transport manager Mike Tudor admits that "fish was not in a good state", and expects his customers to press him for compensation.