French truckers block roads in protest

Truckers blocked roads across France on Monday in their latest protest against high fuel costs and called on the government to help their struggling industry.

The nationwide day of action announced by France's main haulage associations included roadblocks and "snail" operations by convoys of slow-moving trucks to disrupt traffic.

But in a gesture intended to minimise delays for nearly half a million students sitting their baccalaureate examinations on Monday, the protest action was delayed until 9:00 a.m. local time (8:00 a.m. British time) and is expected to end at 4:00 p.m.

"It's not about punishing transport users, it's about sending a warning to the government," said Philippe Fournier, an official of Unostra, an association that represents small haulage firms. "It has to accept its responsibilities."

Coming a day before a separate day of action by unions against plans to reform working hours and pension laws, the fuel protests add to a climate of discontent as France prepares to assume the presidency of the European Union next month.

In Paris, traffic was disturbed by a convoy of private ambulance operators protesting in front of the health ministry.

Outside the capital, convoys of trucks crawling along the highways held up traffic near cities from Calais on the English channel to Marseille on the Mediterranean.

"We don't want to go under, we want to remain competitive compared with our European competition," Pierre Sibut, head of the FNTR transport association in the southeastern region of Rhone-Alpes, told Reuters.

"We're asking the government to put short term measures in place to help us get through the next six months," he said.

The government has proposed some relief, including the possibility of staggered tax and social payments for trucking firms or some fuel tax relief. But it has rejected demands for a Europe-wide fixed price for diesel for professional users.

Monday's actions are the latest in a series of protests that have created a headache for governments from Spain to South Korea over recent weeks and pushed the issue of high fuel prices to the top of the policy agenda.

Crude oil prices have doubled in the past year and risen 40 percent since the start of this year, climbing steadily to more than $135 a barrel.

Earlier this month France's FNTR road transport association said the price of diesel fuel, currently around 1.46 euro ($2.24) a litre, has risen by 30 cents in the past year and 10 cents in the past month.

It said one cent difference in price can add 400 euros a year to the fuel bill of a long distance trucker.

The group says bankruptcies among transport operators have risen 25 percent in the first three months of the year from a year earlier, with 500 firms going out of business.