Campaigners highlight plight of jailed truckers

Date: 15/05/03

THE plight of hundreds of lorry drivers languishing in foreign jails on "trumped up" charges will be highlighted by a campaign group today (15 May).

Fair Trials Abroad (FTA) warns that truckers are increasingly at risk from fast-track legal systems in some member states. Ifanything illegal is found in their cargoes, lorry drivers can find themselves tried and sentenced within 48 hours of being searched, says the group.

FTA is now calling on member states to ensure that lorry drivers enjoy the same legal protection as ship captains and airline pilots who, it says, are rarely held responsible for illegal cargoes.

The group's director highlighted a recent case involving a young lorry driver who collected a pre-packed, sealed trailer from his employer in Brussels and drove non-stop to Calais.

"His truck was searched and cigarettes were found hidden among the load," said FTA director Stephen Jakobi. "He was sentenced in the fast-track procedure to two months' imprisonment. He is frightened and bewildered: he told us he had no way of knowing about the cigarettes or checking the cargo himself."

The FTA campaign, in conjunction with the UK-based Road Haulage Association, aims to highlight the risks for employees of haulage firms. "Some drivers may well be guilty but the vast majority have been sentenced in the absence of any real evidence against them," claimed Jakobi.

Fair Trials Abroad called on 15 May 2003 for lorry drivers, held in jails across Europe, to be treated in the same way as ship captains and airline pilots who are normally not held responsible for illegal cargoes.