Gridlock as truckers protest fuel prices

TENS of thousands of truckers in Spain, France and Portugal yesterday stepped up protests against rising fuel prices, causing mayhem on highways and blocking border crossings.

Tailbacks built up around major cities and on the French-Spanish border as French fishermen in Mediterranean ports ended their three-week strike over the spiralling cost of fuel.

Spain’s second-largest hauliers’ union, Fenadismer, which claims to represent 70,000 out of Spain’s 380,000 truck drivers, launched an open-ended strike yesterday.