KENT County Council leader Paul Carter has written to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to seek reassurances that the French government will honour compensation claims by UK businesses after the "unacceptable inconvenience" caused by the SeaFrance crisis.

Kent Online has obtained a copy of the letter, sent on Saturday, which can be read below:

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Dear Mr Sarkozy,

Re: Impact of French ferry workers' industrial action

I must bring to your attention the eight days of gridlock on our motorway links, severe damage to our business economy and unacceptable inconvenience for residents,

resulting from the industrial action by French ferry workers.

I support your aim of establishing minimum levels of service on public transport during strike action but this must be extended to cross-channel services as a matter of

urgency to ensure that good transport connections between Kent and France continue and there is no negative impact on both our economies.

I am told by the UK Freight Transport Association that making compensation claims in France is notoriously complicated and rarely results in any claims being successful. I seek your reassurance that compensation claims submitted to your government by UK businesses, that are collectively losing millions, will be honoured.

The volume of traffic passing through Calais and arriving in Dover is a problem to both countries. Whilst the approach to the ports on the French side of the channel is made up of open and spacious countryside, the problem is exacerbated on the UK side by the local geography.

As a result every time there is industrial action which affects cross channel services, Kent Police, the Highways Agency and Kent County Council have to implement Operation Stack resulting in long sections of the M20 motorway being closed to traffic that is not travelling to the port of Dover.

The M20 is the UK's strategic route to mainland Europe and Kent's key transport route joining the county's three largest towns. Operation Stack brings all the freight traffic travelling to Dover to a complete standstill on the motorway and forces all the other traffic onto secondary routes in the county, causing hours of delays and effectively cutting off some villages altogether.

The disruption caused by industrial action is bringing chaos not only to our roads and the lives of our residents but is seriously damaging Kent's economy, and we believe, the livelihoods of French and British haulage businesses. For every day that Operation Stack is in place the cost to the Kent economy runs into several millions of pounds.

Kent Police have to deploy 90 officers a day to manage Operation Stack, at an added cost of £15,000 per day.

With 3,000 vehicles heading for France every day the Freight Transport Association estimate that the cost to the UK transport industry alone runs into millions of pounds since the current problem started and we suspect a similar cost is incurred by the French haulage industry.

We must find a solution to the constant disruption caused by industrial action and the resulting direct cost to businesses in Kent, not to mention the negative impact on tourism and the inconvenience to residents.

We hope to announce our solution of a lorry park and its preferred general location in a matter of days. We await an announcement from the UK government about how they will fund it. Our suggestion is a Britdisc scheme which will charge foreign lorries for using Kent's roads to pay for the lorry park and contribute towards a third Thames crossing.

I would appreciate your firm commitment to a resolution to the compensation issues and a long term solution to the industrial action which is damaging both our economies.

Yours sincerely

Paul Carter
Leader, Kent County Council