Rights and wrongs of compensation
Page 39
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In the past four months strikes in France, Spain and Greece have caused severe hardship and losses to UK hauliers. Many of them now want to claim compensation. Are those claims limited?
Does these hauliers have any rights, or are they forced to rely on the generosity and goodwill of individual governments? The grounds on which a haulier can sue any government are based on the obligation under the Treaty of Rome to ensure free passage of goods and people throughout the EU. This obligation takes precedence over the internal law of any member state. Any individual or company who suffers losses as a result of a failure to honour the Treaty of Rome has a potential right of action against that member state. There are differing views as to how the claims should be presented. However, the obligation is that of the member state so a claim presented to the prime minister or the president of that state is bound to be in the right place! Claims should be based on your actual loss of profit—what your vehicle would have earned if it hadn't been held up. Avoid the temptation to charge standing time at a fixed rate per day as this does not represent your actual loss land will probably be very much less that your actual loss). You can also claim additional expenses and any indirect losses such as loss of return loads or loss of contracts.
You do not even have to be in a strike-hit country to have a potential claim. If your vehicle is held up at Dover because of the strike you have been directly affected by a failure on the part of the relevant government. However, you must ensure that you have comprehensive evidence. Not only must you have the documents for the journey, but as much information as possible from your driver and any other witnesses. You can expect governments to challenge every claim. If the claim is not well prepared, well presented and supported by evidence, it's prospects of success are remote. One final note of caution, however: anyone who expects to have their full claim paid within a matter of weeks or even months may well be disappointed.
LI by Stephen Kirkbright