HFA slams 'pathetic' lack of
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support for Dover protest...
III by Charles Young
The Hauliers and Farmers Alliance has slammed the lack of support for its Dover protest as "pathetic".
Just six trucks and four cars eventually left the Ashford truck stop at 08:00hrs on Tuesday after a two-hour wait. About 200 hauliers who had pledged their support failed to turn up.
Tim Smith, who first suggested the slow drive from Ashford to Dover and back, says: "It's pathetic. If this is what the British haulage industry is like I'm going to move to Belgium. Some of the big companies really annoy me. If we had won cheaper fuel they would have been the first to use it."
Some hauliers might have gathered at the Medway services before abandoning the protest following confusion over where it was due to start. The Freight Transport Association had released a fax advising members of possible delays in the area because of a protest starting at Medway services.
Of the hauliers who did turn up most had travelled a fair distance at the cost of losing a day's work.
Milton Keynes based owner driver Phil Summerfield. who does container work, says: "I shan't be here at the end of the year if things don't improve." The Union Road Transport Union had a representative at the demo, as did the Road Haulage Association.
The HFA's Smith says a der-'o in September will probably now be confined to the North of England, but the HFA still wants to pursue legal action against the government. • In marked contrast to the apathy shown by UK hauliers. French truckers are threatening to blockade the port of Calais again in protest at the introduction of fines for carrying illegal immigrants.
Much depends an the outcome of a meeting this week between the three main French trade unions, UNOSTRA. TLF and AFTRI, and the Calais police chief.