Marseilles mob attack
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• Three British truck drivers have been threatened at gunpoint and beaten up by a mob of French dockers at Marseilles after arguing over a load.
Gordon Philip, of Aberdeenbased VG Mathers, his colleague George McMorland and Morris Wyper of Carnwath-based David Forest Transport, were set upon by more than 20 dockers after complaining that Philip had been given two fewer pallets of bananas than his full load.
Philip went to find a manager and returned to see his colleagues being kicked and hit with lumps of wood, as dock security guards looked on. One of the dockers produced a gun, but it was snatched away from him by the shift manager.
The three drivers broke free and locked themselves into their cabs. "They were determined to get Morris and tried to break into his cab, where he was hiding," says Philip.
Wvper, who suffered a broken nose during the attack, refused to leave his cab, even when his truck was eventually loaded and has vowed never to return to Marseilles. "They were bashing his cab to try to get in, and the only reason they gave in was that they thought he had escaped out of the docks," says Philip.
Philip became suspicious of the dockers when they offered
him an extra pallet of bananas for g200. He believes the dockers went on the rampage because the British drivers had uncovered a racket involving short loading and selling off the stolen bananas.
But the three drivers have decided against seeking compensation for the ordeal, which lasted for around 21 hours on the Saturday before Christmas.