Sunshine haulage
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Transport background to ltaly, Spain, Po gal and Eire. By John Durant.
MORE BRITISH vehicles are running to Italy and Spain this year. The 1979 quota of journeys has been increased to 7600, and the 1980 Spanish quota has just gone up to 3500 journeys.
CM spoke to several operators who run to Iberia, and most of them agreed that they had tremendous help from the FTA or RHA — in one case, from both.
But said one, Seaborne Shipping Co, of Barking, Essex, which runs services to Italy four days a week: "We've got top-notch drivers. If you haven't you might just as well pack up."
One operator complained that Continental police forces pick on British vehicles to check on the road, but he added that the new democratic Spanish government has largely put a stop to corruption.
An own-account operator, lnfradex Ltd, Hoddesdon, Herts, runs its transport operation on a profit or loss basis and says that its Spanish operation is not easy — but the drivers rarely meet real problems.
Colin Champness, transport director, uses two routes (Newhaven/Dieppe and Portsmouth/St Maio) for flexibility, and uses a Spanish haulier, Transportest Campillo, as his agent — Infradex does likewise in the UK for this company. Spain has the largest number of restrictions among these countries, but in Portugal, like Eire, there are no restrictions on driving at weekends or on public holidays.
In Spain commercial vehicles cannot be driven on Sundays and these public holidays January 1 — New Year's Day January 6 — Epiphany January 26 — Liberation of Barcelona March 19 — St Joseph's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday (Barcelona only) May 1 — St Joseph the Worker May 15 — St Isidore's Day (Madrid), Ascension Day, Corpus Christi June 29 — St Peter and Paul July 18 — National Labour Day July 25 — St James's Day August 1 5 — Feast of the Assumption October 12 — Columbus Day November 1 — All Saints' Day December 8 — Immaculate Conception December 25 — Christmas Day In Italy goods vehicles exceeding five tons permitted gross weight and all articulated vehicles and road trains cannot be driven on Sundays or certain public holidays from 9 am till 8 pm.
The Italian public holidays are January 1 — New Year's Day January 6 — Epiphany Easter Monday May 1 — Labour day. Ascension Day.
Corpus Christi June 2 — Anniversary of th Republic August 1 5 — August Ban Holiday (Assumption). December 25 — Christmas December 26 — Boxing Day