Belgian police arrested nine people on Tuesday, most of them from Iraq, in the smuggling crackdown which also turned up four illegal immigrants, Europol said.

The agency said immigrants had paid the criminal network 1,500 euros each to be concealed in the back of lorries with no guarantee of safe arrival in the UK.

  They originated from countries such as Afghanistan, China, Iraq and Vietnam and travelled from Turkey to Belgium on a smuggling route that took them through Greece, Italy, and central Europe, Europol said.

The agency said they were brought at night to lorry parks in Belgium by an Indian smuggling network which then passed them on to the Iraqi network. The immigrants were then hidden on lorries without the drivers being aware.

Europol said the smugglers used aggressive tactics with the people they were transporting and did not hesitate to use 'extreme violence' when competing networks intruded on their turf.

Source: asiaoneNEWS

A HAULAGE firm boss is behind bars in France after drugs worth £4million were allegedly found in his lorry.

Robert Clark could face at least 10 years in jail if he is found guilty of having 206kg of cocaine and 43kg of amphetamine concealed in his cargo of frozen chips.

He was arrested at Calais as he drove from the Netherlands to Britain.

Two days after his arrest, cops raided 38-year-old Clark's home in Maybole, Ayrshire. He could have his assets seized if he is convicted.

Clark, who is known as Jason, runs his haulage business, R J Clark and Sons, from the smallholding he shares with his wife and three children.

His wife Susan also runs a horse livery business.

Clark's arrest just before Christmas is the "talk of the steamie" in the village, according to one local.

The villager said: "The house is in the process of being renovated and last year Jason's wife dismantled her top of-the-range stables to build bigger and better ones.

"Jason and his family are well known and liked in the village. Nobody can believe it.

"He has about three or four lorries up at the smallholding and employs several people. As well as that, he owns a few properties in Dalrymple.

"He has never been in trouble with the police in his life. He seems like a nice guy."

The Clarks have three children, including a daughter who has cystic fibrosis.

Over the years, Clark has been an active fund-raiser for research into the disease.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office said: "We can confirm that a British national was arrested on drugs charges on December 21.

"He has been visited by consular staff and he and his family will continue to be provided with consular advice and assistance."

Source: Daily Record

UK Forces fighting in Afghanistan need to keep moving in a range of vehicles. But each needs fuel to stay operational. In the fourth of his Echo reports from Afghanistan, BEN GLAZE speaks to a tanker driver from South Wales transporting diesel in a war zone

A BULLET magnet. That is how Private Scott Burrows-Jones describes his 20,000-litre diesel tanker as it rumbles across Helmand’s dusty desert tracks littered with roadside-bombs.

His dad Jason, 44, is a long-distance lorry driver – but the traffic jams of the M4 can’t compare with the incoming fire from a Taliban insurgent’s AK47 assault rifle.

Pte Burrows-Jones is one of nearly 10,000 British troops in the southern Afghanistan province, where UK forces were deployed in 2006.

When needed, he clambers aboard the dark green tanker and thrusts the vehicle into gear.

Then begins a dangerous, four-day, life-threatening journey, during which up to 100 vehicles in a two-mile convoy face attacks from Taliban insurgents and risk being blown up by the improvised explosive devices peppered through the brown and grey stony wastelands.

A rocket-propelled grenade or bullet strong enough to pierce the heavy metal tanker could cause an explosion – blasting Pte Burrows-Jones, his load and surrounding vehicles into the sky.

The target presented to the Taliban is huge but the fuel must be delivered to troops at the forward operating and patrol bases scattered throughout Helmand.

Pte Burrows-Jones, known as “BJ” to comrades within the Royal Logistics Corps (RLC), said: “You’ve just got to get on with it. There’s no point whatsoever in worrying about it.

“I can honestly say I’m not scared at all; the drills prepare us for what we face and we know what to do when something happens.

“I try not to think too much about whether we’re making a difference; I just want to get on with it.

“We help our guys in the field – and our guys help the locals.”

The 20-year-old ex-Barry Comprehensive schoolboy, on his first tour in a war zone, puts his faith in the machine gunner popping his head through the tanker’s cab.

If the gunner, armed with a general purpose machine gun, known as a Gimpy, spots a Taliban fighter it is his responsibility to protect the tanker and its cargo.

“My mate will be poking his head through the roof and keeps scouting the terrain,” said Pte Burrows-Jones, who is on attachment from the RLC to the Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment.

“He will have the Gimpy and if he sees anything suspicious he will report it down the line.”

The diesel’s flashpoint, the temperature at which it would ignite, is 56°C – high enough to minimise the risk of an explosion even if an insurgent’s round or mortar struck and pierced the tanker’s side.

“I actually don’t get nervous. I know that even if we did get hit I should be OK,” said Pte Burrows-Jones, who is from Rhoose in the Vale of Glamorgan but now lives in Barry.

“The fuel inside is extremely well-protected and I’m confident driving this through the desert – but it is a bullet magnet.”

It was four years ago Pte Burrows-Jones walked into the Army careers office in Cardiff city centre and signed up to serve for the next 22 years.

“Because my dad’s a lorry driver there’s a kind of haulage history in the family, so I knew I wanted to be a driver,” said Pte Burrows-Jones, who has two brothers – call centre worker Jamie, 24, and Jac, 16, who goes to Bryn Hafren Comprehensive School in Barry – and one sister, Brooke, 13, who also attends Bryn Hafren.

He added: “My mum worries like mad but I know she and my dad are both really proud of me and the job we’re all doing out here.”

Private Scott Burrows-Jones, 20, from Rhoose, Vale of Glamorgan, is in the Royal Logistics Corps, attached to Queen’s Own Gurkha Logistic Regiment PICTURES: Ben Glaze ©

1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh, return to Camp Bastion in Helmand Province after Operation Bambirak

Source: WalesOnline

A ten-year-old girl died under a lorry at a busy junction in south-east London as she walked to school.

Witnesses said Latoya Smith was crushed at the junction of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye, just after 8am yesterday. Traffic signals there have been out of operation for weeks as roadworks are carried out.

Latoya had been walking with two friends aged eight and 12. She died of her injuries in hospital soon after.

Matthew Page, 42, an estate agent opposite the scene, said: “It was awful. The way the roadworks are, it was an accident waiting to happen. I heard a bang. She'd been under the wheels of a 60-tonne truck and had no chance. She was lying in the road bleeding, moving but not conscious.”

The lorry driver, 44, was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and is in custody.

Anyone with information should call police on 020 8285 1574.

Source: This is London

A LOCAL man is lobbying the Government for a change in the laws surrounding European lorry drivers entering the UK – claiming unless action is taken the British haulage industry could "collapse".

Grimsby HGV driver Alan Overton, 44, said that some UK firms were missing out on contracts, as foreign drivers do not have to pay to drive in Britain, and as a result can often undercut local businesses.

He said the situation was compounded by the fact that British drivers have to pay to drive on the continent – forcing up prices and making it increasingly hard for UK firms to compete.

He has already been given the backing of local politicians and today we are calling on you to let us know your thoughts on the issue.

Mr Overton has proposed a system that he says could generate the Government around £525,000 per week and support UK firms.

He said: "My system is a simple one – we charge £15 per day for a European lorry to transit the country."

He claims that without introducing some form of transit tax, British motorists will end up footing the bill for roads damaged by the increased traffic.

He said: "By paying road tax, British motorists are subsidising European haulage companies to use our roads.

"The Europeans do not have to pay road tax to use our roads and the volume from traffic from the Europe on our roads is unbelievable.

"Our companies just cannot compete with them because the Europeans can afford to do it cheaper – they do not have to pay what our companies do.

"This is Europe's food town – if we lose the haulage industry the impact on Grimsby would be huge.

"The EU companies would take on the work from the collapsed UK companies and we would be bombarded by European trucks causing wear and tear to our roads and not paying for it.

"Members of the public would have to foot the bill in terms of paying higher road tax."

Source: Grimsby Telegraph

A Stoke-on-Trent-based HGV driver was left hospitalised with a head wound after stowaways brutally attacked him in Dunkirk.

IRF (International Road Freight) employee 55-year-old Brian Glover, was parked near a supermarket on Wednesday 20 January when he was struck from behind by illegal immigrants he had seen earlier in the day trying to tamper with his trailer.

"I was hit on the back of my head with a metal pole, which  knocked me to the floor," Glover tells Commercial Motor. "There was blood streaming down my face." As a result, he needed five stitches.

Glover was told by French police that arrests were unlikely because the offenders had run off.

While this is the first time an IRF employee has been attacked, the firm's transport manager, Alan Dale, reveals the business has previously been fined by the UK Border Agency for harbouring clandestines. "Our drivers are all trained to do checks, but stowaways always manage to find a way to enter a truck. It seems to be happening more often now. I honestly don't know what the solution is," Dale says.

Several readers of Roadtransport.com's Lorry Crime Blog have commented on the story, including Mark Jones, operations manager at Powys-based Speed Distribution: "These immigrants have travelled through many Western European countries, so maybe the UK should ask these countries why they are able to pass through so easily."

Source : ROADTRANSPORT

Complimenting their existing Midlands dealer network, leading truck manufacturer Isuzu Truck UK has made a further dealer appointment in this region, with the addition of M6 Commercials as a full sales, service and parts dealer, with immediate effect.

 In January 2010, M6 Commercials, based in Nechells, Birmingham, joined Isuzu Truck’s 60-strong network of dealers nationwide and as Keith Child, Marketing Director at Isuzu Truck UK says, “The Midlands is a key area for us, at the heart of the UK motorway network. The location of M6 Commercials couldn’t be better as it’s just a mile from Spaghetti Junction. The addition of a further experienced dealer will enhance the current success achieved by the network here in recent times.”

 Established 10 years ago, as a general service provider for commercial vehicles, M6 Commercials is based at:

 M6 Commercials, Premier Street, Nechells, Birmingham B7 5TQ

Tel: 0121 326 6363, Fax: 0121 328 9090

 Contacts:

 Dealer Principal – Andy Savery – andy@m6commercials.co.uk

Sales – John Sheridan – john@m6commercials.co.uk

Service/Parts – Dave Robinson – dave@m6commercials.co.uk

 Commenting on his company’s appointment, Andy Savery from M6 Commercials said, “We have been monitoring the success achieved by Isuzu for some time and when the chance came to join their dealer network, we had no hesitation. This is a superb opportunity for my business as the full Isuzu truck range from 3.5t up to 18t is extremely popular in the Midlands.” 

The complete list of Isuzu Truck UK dealers for sales, service and parts across the UK can be viewed and downloaded from the company’s website www.isuzutruck.co.uk

TruckstopUK

It is exactly six months since Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute released their formal study of light and heavy truck driver distraction and cell phone use under real world driving conditions. The report clearly indicated that texting into a device whilst driving was more likely to result in an accident – more than 23 times as likely. Now it seems that it could be a step too far to make the connection between driving a truck and driving a car as yesterday saw the Transportation Secretary introduce a regulation which prevents truckers’ texting whilst behind the wheel.

Now, in the home of the free, it remains to be seen if the US authorities have the spine to go the whole way and sanction ordinary motorists who communicate with the outside world whilst driving. The VTTI report, conducted in a real driving environment, not a simulator, revealed some uncomfortable, and some surprising, truths for drivers who believe their reactions are not impaired whilst “multi tasking”.

Results showed that any activity which draws the driver’s eyes from the road will adversely affect their ability to control the vehicle. Headsets do not measurably improve the safety factor whilst talking on a mobile phone over hand held devices but even these present no extra risk whilst simply listening. Cognitively intense tasks (e.g., emotional conversations, “books‐on‐tape”, etc.) whilst having a dramatic effect on driving whilst under simulated conditions, do not have any thing like the risk in actual driving conditions.

One thing was made clear however and that is that driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol was vastly more dangerous than an otherwise alert driver using any form of communication.

Reaction to the ban from the world of road haulage and drayage was virtually unanimous. Most truck companies have already taken steps to ensure their drivers never text whilst in motion and adhere to standards such as the ATA’s safety policy, but, with the threat of a fine up to $2750, all truckers will now have to take notice.

A spokesman from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety said he did not think a reduction in accident levels was likely as the ruling might prove unenforceable. UK readers will bear witness that in the aftermath of a serious crash, text and cell phone records are a damning indictment of wayward drivers and this has a measurable deterrent effect on driving habits.

A DIRE shortage of vehicle inspectors puts the public in rural Wales at risk from “highly illegal” lorry practices, according to the official in charge of transport licensing.

And the problem could be even worse where Welsh is widely spoken, thanks to a lack of Welsh-medium safety education, said Nick Jones, Traffic Commissioner for Wales and the West Midlands.

He said lorry safety was better in rural England than rural Wales, where there was a dearth of inspectors to enforce rules.

His comments follow a public inquiry into Bala haulage firm RR Davies a’i Feibion, where he found rules on drivers’ working hours had been broken out of ignorance.

Brothers Geraint and Richard Davies had taken over their father’s haulage business in 1993, but Mr Jones said the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa) had not visited the company until 2009.

“Here I am dealing with two brothers who are honest, hardworking individuals who have been let down by the lack of Vosa presence in rural Wales,” said Mr Jones, whose job is to oversee licensing of lorry and bus operators.

“This is exacerbated by my inability to hold operator seminars in the area as a result of funding difficulties. I cannot justifiably criticise operators from parts of Mid and North Wales for failing to attend seminars in South Wales. The lack of operator seminars in this part of North Wales has contributed to low levels of compliance.”

He said he did not criticise Vosa for concentrating resources on the M4 and A55 corridors, but continued: “The number of Vosa enforcement staff to cover a large geographical area with a difficult terrain is such that there are operators who don’t see Vosa for a substantial period.

“There’s evidence that there are pockets where the standard of safety is less than one would find in equivalent parts of England.

“There are occasions in parts of Wales when there are operators who may have been doing something highly illegal for over a decade, say, where in fact there’s been no contact with Vosa. If that happens there must be concern for road safety and the public.

“The public should expect to have safety standards which are the same wherever you are in Great Britain.”

He added: “The fact that, to my knowledge, there have never been any operator seminars in the Welsh language has contributed to the two-tier system that appears to exist whereby parts of Wales have lower standards as a result of lower levels of intervention. The fact that there has been little or no education for those who speak Welsh as a first language has exacerbated the problems.”

Everyone at the RR Davies inquiry, except Mr Jones, spoke Welsh as their first language, but Vosa had conducted all interviews in English because all documentation was in English. The brothers, and the drivers they employed, “were at some disadvantage in having interviews conducted in English”, said Mr Jones.

There was a “real training need” for seminars for lorry operators but he had to cover two traffic areas, Wales and the West Midlands, with the standard budget for one traffic area.

Alex Fiddes, Vosa’s operations director, said: “A programme exists of enforcement activity in the rural areas of Wales.

“The matter of funding is a reality as operator licence fees have reduced in 2009-10 by 15.7% against 2008-09.”

He added that Vosa had a Welsh language scheme, meeting Welsh Language Board guidelines.

Source: WalesOnline