site.btaProtesting Road Hauliers and Bus Carriers Disrupt Traffic and Services

Road hauliers protested across the country to press for measures they hope would bring down their costs. Their demands include a six-month break for the biodiesel requirement, lower excise duty for fuel and postponing the government plans for broadening the scope of the toll system to include second-class roads.

Protesting truckers and bus carriers caused traffic congestion on the Yambol ring road in southern Bulgaria, on the road between Stara Zagora and Dimitrovgrad, and on Maritsa Motorway where they reached the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the border with Turkey. A protest motorcade went through the centre of Pleven and Lovech in northern Bulgaria as well as in Varna but traffic there remained undisturbed. The protests brought to a standstill bus services between Sofia and Kyustendil in southwestern Bulgaria, in the southern Haskovo Region as well as from and to Smolyan and Plovdiv/Sofia.