A lot of nuisance was experienced due to filter blockades of lorry drivers in Belgium from 1 April. As a protest against the introduction of mileage tax, several roads were blocked. Especially in Wallonia traffic was halted until 6 April. Currently everything is running as usual and the roads are clear again.
Tens of thousands of Euro
Packaging company J&S Packaging from Ghislenghien was idle for days due to the blockades. Jim Segers says they could not supply a lot of customers because of this. “We hardly did any loading or unloading for nearly a week. Our own lorries are large, and could not get through the blockades. We did have some activity, as we rented some smaller lorries from an external company. In this way we made do, but we still suffered enormous delays and it cost us tens of thousands of Euro.”
J&S Packaging also has a location in Sint-Katelijne-Waver and certain contracts could be executed and delivered from there. “Yet we still had to temporarily disappoint many customers. Luckily they were very understanding of our situation,” Segers says. “From last week 8 April normal operations could resume again.”
Tougher action
Segers does not expect more blockades for a while now. “Tougher action from higher up against these cases will occur. Police cleared the way last week. If lorry drivers do this again, their driving licence could be withdrawn or their lorry could even be confiscated.”
For more information:
J&S Packaging nv
Rue du Fundus 13 - Zoning II
B-7822 Ghislenghien
Tel.: +32 (0)68 84 38 74
Fax: +32 (0)68 84 38 81
info@j-and-s-packaging.com
www.j-and-s-packaging.com