Hundreds of trucks block New Zealand cities with protest convoys

Jul 3, 2008, 22:08 GMT

Wellington - Hundreds of trucks blocked New Zealand's 13 biggest cities and towns on Friday with morning peak hour convoys protesting sudden increases in road-user charges they have to pay.

Police urged commuters to go to work before the protesting convoys began at 7 am or take the day off. In Auckland, the nation's biggest city, where trucks brought the central business district to a standstill, bus companies dropped workers on the outskirts and told them to walk the rest of the way.

In the capital, Wellington, trucks took a circular route through the centre before driving past parliament.

The government raised charges that all diesel-powered vehicles and heavy trucks must pay for every kilometre they travel by an average of 7.5 per cent on Monday.

Trucking companies, already hit by soaring fuel prices, said they should have been given advance notice to enable them to build the extra costs into their budgets and fees they charge for carrying freight.

Transport Minister Annette King said truckers abused the system when she did that last year, buying millions of dollars worth of road-user licences at the old prices.

In addition, heavy trucks caused the most damage to the roading system and were not paying their fair share of costs for its upkeep, she said.