Weekend lorry bans prompt calls for action

Date: 24/04/1997

By Chris Johnstone

THE spread of weekend lorry bans across the EU has prompted pledges of European Commission action, as the number of stranded truckers increases and companies begin to denounce 'unfair' competition.

Commission officials are now considering whether to introduce a code of conduct for the proliferating weekend freight bans, amid accusations that Europe's transport market is splitting apart and allegations by a number of companies that some of the measures might breach EU competition rules.

Such involvement marks a sharp change in position by the Commission's Directorate-General for Transport (DGVII), which has previously been reluctant to get embroiled in an area it regarded as clearly the sole responsibility of national governments.

But protests have increased as the French ban on Sunday traffic has been tightened to include (mostly empty) vehicles returning to base and as the Spanish have taken steps to introduce a similar brake on lorry movements.

Complaints are growing from those affected by the bans.

Dutch airline KLM has, for example, called for Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock to examine allegations that Air France is being given a special exemption from France's ban while rival carriers are not. Most European airlines use roads for short-haul freight deliveries.

KLM has also been hit by Spain's lorry ban. It was forced to launch a new air freight service to its Saragossa sub-hub at the start of this month because it cannot move freight across Spain or France during weekends. “As you can imagine, the flights are a lot more costly than trucks,” said a KLM spokesman.

“We are living in a nightmare situation,” said Mike Freeman, spokesman for the UK's Road Haulage Association. “Very soon there will be a ban across the whole of Europe.”

The UK is badly affected because most of its continental traffic passes through France. “The French ban has disrupted our rotas, it is costing us money and has made just-in-time deliveries impossible,” said Freeman.

“Luxembourg is preparing a ban because it is tired of being used as a parking lot for drivers queuing up to get through France. The Belgians are also looking at something for the same reasons.”

Germany has its own Sunday freight ban, with central and eastern European countries adding another cocktail of restrictions.

“There has been a series of weird things coming in from the East, with some of them banning lorries from Friday evening to Sunday night but only in the summer months. That is the case in Hungary, with the result that lines of lorries queue up in Romania,” said Freeman.

On-the-road interpretations of the French rules vary, with officials sometimes bizarrely reclassifying goods as perishable or not - a key factor in determining whether they are covered by the ban.

“There are some drivers who are 'done' for transporting cauliflowers because they are not classified as fresh vegetables.

But courgettes are being let through,” explained Freeman.

Spain's recent ban has also taken a strange twist, with the Basque region having a separate set of rules and foreign drivers complaining that no one has explained how far the zone spreads.

“Most of these rules are in Spanish and most of our men are simple blokes,” said Freeman.

A code of conduct setting out some uniform rules for lorry bans would make life simpler. But UK haulage firms are also pressing the Commission to draw up a list of priority routes which do not go through towns and can be kept open throughout the weekend.

The French lorry ban was one of the consequences of last November's violent haulage strikes which paralysed the country. Short-haul drivers in particular called for a brake on all Sunday traffic so that they could be guaranteed a rest without fearing that goods would be moved instead by rival foreign firms.

The ban has been all the less acceptable to British truckers because they are still waiting for compensation from Paris for the disruption and damage caused by the French strikes.

The Road Haulage Association says many claims have become bogged down in provincial prefectures, with disputes raging over whether they can be lodged in languages other than French.