Road hauliers denounce their exclusion from aid for long-distance drivers and consider action

Road transport companies, which remain excluded from aid to heavy drivers, denounce an “intolerable” situation and plan to mobilize next week, warned Jean-Marc Rivera, general delegate of the Organization of European Road Transporters (OTRE), on Wednesday.

An “incomprehensible difference in treatment, profoundly unfair and now intolerable”. The government announced on Tuesday an extension and expansion of aid to long-distance drivers in an attempt to respond to the concerns of the French most affected by record fuel prices, caused by conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.

“Potential actions”

“Once again, road transport companies are deliberately excluded, without the slightest objective justification,” regretted OTRE in a press release on Tuesday. The general director of the union, Jean-Marc Rivera, announced Wednesday on franceinfo that he was launching a consultation with his members, with a view to “potential actions” next week.

For OTRE, the government's choice “directly penalizes VSEs and SMEs in the sector as well as their employees, already heavily weakened by soaring operating costs,” the press release continues. “This difference in treatment is all the less justifiable as transport companies cannot suddenly reduce their travel, nor pass on all of the increases they experience,” they declare.