Road Haulage Association calls for French military to secure Calais
The Road Haulage Association welcomes proposals to improve Operation Stack, which were set out at a resilience meeting in Kent today. But the plans will not cope adequately when the demands on Stack reach their peak, as has been repeatedly seen in the past month, the RHA warned.
RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: “This is a crisis and demands swift and dramatic action. It appears that the Tunnel is being laid siege to my many hundreds of people desperate to get to Britain. Tragically, migrants are being killed and our members are being subject to a daily gauntlet of intimidation and long expensive delays. It is also totally unacceptable that the people of Kent should bear this burden.
“I re-iterate my call for the French government to put their military into Calais to secure the port and the Tunnel terminal if the police are unable to do so on their own. By taking this decisive action, one of the main causes of Stack will be reduced.”
The RHA also said that a more determined, holistic and co-ordinated approach is needed on both sides of the Channel and raised this point at this morning's meeting on Kent as European Gateway chaired by Kent County Council. It is calling on the French and UK governments to establish an authoritative panel to tackle road haulage and related supply chain issues relating to the ferry and tunnel crossings at the Dover Straits. There is one for the Channel Tunnel, primarily focussed on safety, but nothing for road haulage.
The panel would have representatives of the UK and French governments, the ferry and tunnel operators, the highways and local government authorities in Calais and Kent, the road haulage industry; and the shippers who use haulage services. It would inject a greater sense of urgency to addressing problems and would promote the sharing of share ideas and good practice.
There is no equivalent of Operation Stack in France, for example, although that is badly needed. Despite greater truck parking availability at the ferry and tunnel terminals on the French side (at Calais and Sangatte), it is insufficient to cope with the volume of traffic when there is serious disruption and there is no method of queuing or traffic control outside the terminals. The absence of controls adds to the stress of drivers and the problems they face with migrants.
The haulage industry and its customers urgently need a settlement to be found to the strike at Calais; and a lasting solution to the threat posed to drivers, their vehicles and loads in the Calais area, the RHA says.
The strike needs to be resolved, and the authorities need to find a swift way to resolve the continuing threat posed to our drivers on a daily basis by the ever increasing number of migrants in the Calais area.
