Nice airport blockaded

Hauliers have blockaded Nice International Airport to protest sky-rocketing fuel prices.

Similar action is taking place in Bordeaux and on the Spanish border.

More than 3,000 drivers across France will be blocking lanes on motorways to draw attention to their situation.

Nice aorport remains open and functioning, but daytime access remains blocked.

Passengers should expect to have difficulties getting taxis and busses from within the airport area.

The blockades have been limited to between 9am and 4pm so that Bac students, who sit their exams this week, are able to get to their schools as the blockades are expected to have significant effects on motorway and other traffic.

The move precedes a broader day of industrial action planned for Tuesday which will focus on the cost of filling up with petrol, proposed pension reforms and changes to the 35-hour working week.

Nicolas Paulissen of the Fédération Nationale des Transports Routiers (FNTR) – France’s main haulage union, explained that a wide raft of measures needs to be implemented immediately if businesses are going to be saved from ruin.

He said: “It isn’t just the cost of fuel, which happens to have gone up by 44% in three years.

“Motorway tolls have also gone up – by 25% in three years. In the last year the cost of running a business has gone up by 12%. This is huge.”

Mr Paulissen added that high social charges (the compulsory cotisations paid out by employers) and the professional taxes paid by small businesses mean French hauliers were at a distinct disadvantage in terms of pan-European comptetitivity.

He said: “The government is looking at ways to tackle these issues in the long term, which is a good thing.

“But we need something to give – right now.

“If businesses are going to survive emergency measures must be pushed through immediately.”

Photo: Blockades at the Spanish border - AFP smaller