British truckers caught in blockade

More than 100 British lorry drivers were still caught up in the increasingly violent Spanish truckers' dispute last night.

One Scottish driver spoke yesterday of running battles between police and pickets and of how he had been threatened with violence if he attempted to move his lorry. "There have been a lot of clashes involving police and pickets near where I have been stopped," said Norman MacDonald, 61, of Carnwath, near Lanark, who has been halted near Lerida in Spain. "I have been told that if I try to move, my windscreen will be smashed". The Freight Transport Association has written to the Department of Transport urging officials to seek help from the European Commission to end the dispute.