The FTA has requested that the French Government considers awarding suitable compensation to UK freight operators impacted by Operation Stack this summer. The organisation is calling for the compensation in order to help operators cover their losses.

According to the FTA, the cost to UK hauliers whose vehicles were stuck on the M20 in Kent was over £21 million during the 28 days that Operation Stack was in effect.

The FTA's estimated cost doesn’t include loss of business, spoilt cargoes, missed export deadlines or the percentage of journeys diverted during Operation Stack which are all additional costs to freight operators.

James Hookham, deputy chief executive of the FTA, said: “FTA is calling on the French Government to consider compensation for UK freight operators to help recover some of their losses this summer due to Operation Stack. 

“The weeks of chaos on the roads in Kent were unacceptable and we need a long-term solution to Operation Stack – this situation cannot be allowed to happen again. 

“As the industrial dispute from the MyFerryLink workers has not been resolved – there is every likelihood that we could see a repeat performance before the summer is out.”

The FTA said lorry drivers, freight operators, local businesses and residents were affected during the occasions that Operation Stack was implemented, covering 35 miles of the Kent motorway where around 6,000 trucks were stuck for many hours each day. 

During this time the FTA estimated that the crisis was costing the UK freight industry £750,000 a day, as trucks were stopped on closed sections of the major route used to access the Eurotunnel and the Port of Dover.
 
Hookham added: “FTA has calculated that the UK lorries queued during Operation Stack accounted for only 15 per cent of all HGVs affected and therefore the wider costs to hauliers across Europe are significantly higher. 

“So the French Government should accept that they are liable not only for the cost to British hauliers, but to all others involved.”