Post by justjohn on Feb 1, 2008 5:29:38 GMT -7
Lorry crisis hits Polish borders
A protest by customs officers in Poland has left thousands of lorry drivers stranded on its borders.
The officers' go-slow began 10 days ago and reports say 6,000 lorries are queuing at the border with Ukraine.
Customs officers are demanding pay rises because of heightened security measures on Poland's eastern border with Belarus, Ukraine and Kaliningrad.
Frontier procedures were tightened when Poland joined the European Union's Schengen free-travel zone on 1 January.
Russian news agency Itar-Tass said queues had been growing over the past day, and most of the lorries were waiting to cross from Poland to Ukraine.
Goods trains have also been caught up in the dispute, although buses, passenger trains and cars are not affected.
The queues began to form when customs workers took holidays or sick leave en masse, demanding three times the 500 zloty (140 euro) pay rise offered by the Polish government.
Poland's transport association said that customs workers were beginning to return to their desks, and the queues were starting to shorten.
Story from BBC NEWS: