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German hauliers blockade borders
V a special correspondent :x'ERMAN HAULIERS are ising frontier blockading tacks as part of their campaign o end what they regard as a liscriminatory policy towards hem 'by the German Governneat. The borders with .4olland and Belgium have peen blocked—for up to 10 iouns—in recent weeks. The 4s being organised )3.* an international road haulwe action committee in the North Rhein area.
The committee has the following demands : 0 an end to the 450km (281mile) daily driving limit on drivers and a 5.9kW/tonne (813hp/ton) power requirement; D a lower system of road tax; D the scrapping of a German tax on trailers which are used as spare vehicles; and CI a more practical approach to the EEC's Social Regulations which cover driving Though all demands are regarded as important, it is the road tax issue which is upsetting the hauliers. They point out that the equivalent taxation of a maximum weight truck in Germany is well over twice that in the UK and a staggering 20 times higher than in France. This, they feel, puts them at an unfair advantage in international transport operations. Other hauliers from surrounding countries point out that the German industry is more fiercely protected than any other in Europe. The maximum driving limit is, they say, more rigorously applied to foreign trucks in Germany than their own vehicles. For this reason the hauliers did not receive sympathetic attention from hauliers from other countries whose vehicles were held up.