Truckers strike over fuel costs in Spain

A blockade in protest at fuel prices has been started by Spanish truckers, after a government offer of aid was rejected yesterday as insufficient.

The truckers want help to cope with the soaring cost of diesel, which has risen 20 per cent in the last year.

At midnight local time yesterday (23:00 BST), some 90,000 hauliers stopped work. Blockades and demonstrations are expected over the next few weeks.

Drivers say supermarkets will run out of supplies by Thursday unless the strike is resolved. According to the truckers, the strike is indefinite.

Long lines have been forming outside petrol stations in Spain this morning as motorists prepare for a fuel shortage.

Although the government did make an offer to the drivers yesterday, it was rejected as "insufficient", according to Spain's National Transport Association Fenadismer.

Spokesman for the organisation, Julio Villaescusa, told news agency EFE the government had made an offer on Sunday to ward off the strike, but the measures were insufficient and the strike went ahead as planned.

The association said eventually it wants all 300,000 independent truckers throughout the country to join in.

The hauliers are piling the pressure on the Spanish government following fuel protests from fishermen, who want bigger subsidies to cope with a 30 per cent increase in marine diesel.