European lorry and cargo drivers need to be protected

The European Parliament will today debate security on European roads, given the increasing number of violent attacks on lorry and cargo drivers. Lorry drivers are facing unprecedented challenges in ensuring their cargo reaches its destination without incident. MEPs will ask the European Commission to remedy the situation.

“We are concerned about the increasing number of attacks on drivers near border crossing points and harbours. Drivers who park their lorry to take an obligatory break on the road are often subject to violence from migrants who wish to cross the border illegally. Take the situation in Calais, where a Polish driver was recently killed in a crash caused by a makeshift roadblock of tree trunks set up by migrants on a motorway outside the port town,” says Tomáš Zdechovský, the Czech MEP who is the author of the question addressed to the European Commission.

There are also cases when migrants try to sneak into the parked lorries to get transported over the border. In the end, it is the transport company who pays the charges. We urge state authorities to protect lorry drivers and to guarantee security. But we also want to hear from the European Commission what it is doing to ensure the security of truck drivers while guaranteeing the integrity of the single market? Is the Commission considering the establishment of proper ‘safe parking’ zones around Europe?” concludes Zdechovský, who is a member of the Civil Liberties and Home Affairs Committee.