The Road Haulage Association (RHA) believes more government support is needed to end the issue of driver safety and disruption for logistics operators at the French port of Calais.

Difficulties at the port for drivers have come to a head in recent months and the RHA believes forthright action is now needed to resolve this issue once and for all.

The stance of the RHA comes despite letters written to the UK prime minister David Cameron and French prime minister Francois Hollande from Calais president Xavier Bertrand calling for action on disruptive migrant activity at Calais to be officially put on the agenda of the Franco-British Summit in Amiens on March 3rd.

RHA chief executive Richard Burnett commented: "Xavier Bertrand has raised this issue at the highest government levels and it certainly appears that his request for action is being acknowledged on both sides of the Channel.

"For that reason alone I find it disappointing that despite our best efforts, and frequent meetings with the Home Office team, our calls for urgent action and regular invitations to ministers and senior civil servants to visit the port of Calais have received very little response."

He added that the issue has become one that is all-consuming for logistics operators in the region, as it is costing companies millions of pounds in lost contracts and delays.

Mr Burnett concluded: "We regularly hear of drivers who quite simply refuse to travel through this critical freight route because they no longer want to put their lives at risk. And why should they?"