Now Spain goes on the warpath
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by Miles Brignall • Spanish truck drivers have decided it's their turn to protest about pay and conditions and are stopping all non-Spanish trucks entering the country.
More than 200,000 trucks were this week stranded in blockades at northern ports, borders and major junctions, particularly in the Santander and Basque regions. Borders at Iron and La Jonquera are two of the worst affected. The action, called by the Spanish hauliers' trade associations, ASTIC and CTM, is most apparent in the north of the country.
The Spanish Embassy says the hauliers are protesting about pay and conditions and
planned job losses in a similar strike to the one that crippled France before Christmas.
The police have not intervened except to break up fights involving frustrated drivers. There are also reports that some tyres have been slashed. A spokeswoman for the embassy says the action, which started on 6 February with a series of wild-cat strikes, now affects 80% of Spanish operators.
Northern Irish haulier Noel Zwecker had three trucks caught up in blockades and although two managed to escape, one had a side window smashed, "The whole thing appears to be getting out of hand," he says.