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Lorry drivers' hours relaxed
03/10/2007
The UK government has agreed that restrictions on lorry drivers' hours at the wheel can be temporarily relaxed to allow animals in Scotland to be moved following the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
Rural Affairs and the Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said:
"At long last, the UK Government has recognised the scale of the crisis facing Scotland's livestock sector and the need for hauliers to have this concession to allow them to get moving again and deal with the backlog of livestock.
"It is very frustrating that it has taken us weeks of negotiation to get this modest concession but we are grateful that the UK Government has finally recognised that this is not a 'short-term local problem' as they originally said, but a crisis which is not of our farmers' own making.
"We are continuing to push for the export ban to be lifted and for the UK Government to fund a sheep welfare scheme."