Déjà vu in Calais today as migrants block the motorway, and strikers threaten port blockade.

Also, a quick look at the Dutch home of ‘the world’s oldest private collection of classic cars’. Spain’s riskiest roads – or rather, least safe. Luxembourg diesel falls in price again, leaving Austria behind.

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CALAIS SLIDING BACK TO DARK DAYS OF THE SUMMER

‘Unprecedented violence’ as migrants block motorway in attempt to reach UK.

A migrant attacks a truck driver with a lump hammer in Calais today in violent scenes described by the FTA as ‘unprecedented’. Photo via Les Calaisiens en Colere/Facebook.

A day before one of the busiest weekends of the year, Calais threatens a return to the worst days of the summer.

Happily it seems a blockade of the port by former MyFerryLink workers has been averted for now, but this afternoon ‘thousands’ of migrants blocked the A16 motorway in an apparent attempt to reach Eurotunnel.

The Freight Transport Association’s Chris Yarsley was in Calais today.

He says, ‘I am flabbergasted at what I have seen today; there were literally thousands of migrants benefitting from the queue of slow moving traffic on the roads around Calais. They were attacking vehicles; breaking the locks of trucks, slashing roofs of the lorries and climbing in the back of them.’

The A16 motorway was blocked in both directions between Calais and Eurotunnel for several hours this afternoon before police brought the situation under control.

As in late November, the attack was co-ordinated with simultaneous disturbances in the town centre which split police resources says Yarsley.

Eurotunnel is to hold a round table meeting with the FTA, IRU International Roads Union, Border Force and others to discuss security at Calais.

Meanwhile, French transport minister Alain Vidalies said this evening that a review of yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling ‘seems to leave an opportunity to continue the operation of the single boat North Pas-de-Calais.’

He wants a meeting with all those involved in early January he said.

Eurotunnel said yesterday it would sell the ferry and abandon attempts to run a freight only service after the Supreme Court backed the original competition ruling barring the firm from running ferries at Dover.

After threatening to blockade Calais on Wednesday, MyFerryLink union leader Eric Vercoutre said today Eurotunnel had no right to sell the ferry. Workers are due to meet again at 11:00 tomorrow (Friday).

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The Louwman Museum: home to reputedly ‘the world’s oldest private collection of classic cars’, compiled by two generations of the Louwman family, the Dutch Chrysler importer. The 250 vehicle exhibition includes a 1929 Mercedes-Benz SSK, Bugattis, Alfa Romeo racers, the original James Bond Aston Martin DB5, a 1960 Porsche 718 F2 car and a 1968 Toyota 2000GT (the list goes on and on). The ‘Post Modern’ building was designed by Memphis Group architect Michael Graves and opened in 2010. It is off the N44, just north east of The Hague in the western Netherlands. See LouwmanMuseum.nl

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roundup: SPAIN. An analysis of nearly 25,000km of highways by EuroRAP European Road Assessment Programme identified just over 14% at ‘unacceptably high risk’ of accidents. The most dangerous road is a stretch of the N-320 between Guadalajara and Madrid, followed by N-435 in Badajoz and the N-340 between Granada and Almeria. All ten of the riskiest roads are single lane stretches. Galicia in the northwest and Catalunya in the north east have the highest proportions of most dangerous roads. Read El Pais English’s take on the report, or read it in full at EuroRAP.org. Despite all this Spain has made huge gains on road safety in recent years and is now nipping at the heels of the safest countries: UK, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. LUXEMBOURG. The price of diesel has dropped yet again (three times in the past fortnight). A litre of derv is now down 3.3c to – the nationally regulated price – €0.88/l (around 64p) says Wort.lu. It still has a way to go to match Europe’s cheapest, Andorra, at €0.854 according to Fuel Prices Europe. Close competitor Austria at €0.934 is slipping (relatively) down the table. See more on Europe’s cheapest fuel.

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Eurotunnel to sell freight-ferry after Supreme Court backs original competition ruling barring it from operating at Dover – but how will the unions react?

Also, a random Koenigsegg Regera. The 2016 France ‘jam calendar’ is published. More migrant trouble on the Calais ring road. Dutch super-hot on closed lane fines.

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UNION THREATENS CALAIS BLOCKADE OVER FERRY SALE

Eurotunnel to sell remaining MyFerryLink ferry with loss of 130 jobs after court ruling.

Huge relief no doubt at the CMA Competition and Markets Authority this morning after the Supreme Court backed its original 2013 ruling barring Eurotunnel from operating ferries at Dover.

The CMA said it would work ‘constructively’ with Eurotunnel on the operation of the remaining freight-only ship in the firm’s ownership.

However, the Channel Tunnel operator said immediately it will sell the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, formerly operated by now-defunct MyFerryLink which it backed:

‘MyFerryLink had hoped to restart an activity with the freight only ferry, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, which would have ensured 130 jobs. As the decision by the Supreme Court no longer permits this, the Eurotunnel Group will put its last ship, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, up for sale,’ it said.

Predictably, the unions are now threatening to blockade Calais port according to Nord Littoral and will meet tomorrow morning (Thursday) to decide the next steps.

Of the 487 workers employed by MyFerryLink on its sole Dover-Calais service, 402 were reemployed by DFDS and Eurotunnel after the firm folded in June.

DFDS leased two of the firm’s three ships which will start on its Dover-Calais route in February 2016.

The case was originally referred to the CMA by the OFT Office for Fair Trading in October 2012 after Eurotunnel bought three ferries from the defunct SeaFrance. They were operated by a workers’ collective called SCOP, staffed by former SeaFrance employees.

The following June, the CMA decided to bar Eurotunnel ferries from Dover. Since then there have been a succession of court cases, most recently in May 2015 when the Court of Appeal ruled in MyFerryLink’s favour.

The legal issue at stake was whether Eurotunnel bought just assets from SeaFrance, or whether it had effectively acquired a going concern, in which case the deal would constitute a merger and be subject to CMA jurisdiction.

In pursuing the case to the Supreme Court, CMA said it was ‘seeking greater legal clarity for the wider benefit of the UK merger regime’.

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A Koenigsegg Regera sits on the hypercar maker’s test track in south west Sweden. The 1500bhp hyrid was launched at this year’s Geneva Motor Show and costs a reported £1.25 million. The Regera features on one of several new wallpapers out this week. See more at Koenigsegg.

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roundup: FRANCE. The annual ‘jam calendar’ was published today by national traffic monitor Bison Fute. There are four Black Days, all Saturdays (aka Black Saturdays) but only two are for the entire country, and they are both in the summer: Saturday 30 July and Saturday 6 August, as drivers head away for the holidays (the latter day also has black traffic heading home from the Mediterranean coast). The two winter super-busy days are Saturday 13 February and Saturday 20 February when traffic will be concentrated into the Rhone-Alps region in the south east. Hope for snow in the mountains but clear roads: read what happened on the last winter Black Saturday (and an overall look at summer 2015 traffic). CALAIS MIGRANT CRISIS. More trouble on the port access road this morning, for the first time since Wednesday 2 December. Migrants clashed with police on the N216/A216 ‘Rocade’ ring road beside The Jungle camp. The road was shut – and the A16 and A26 junctions – from around 10:00 local time until 13:00. It follows calls this week from the Road Haulage Association and its Dutch equivalent TLN for the French army deployed at Calais saying police are overwhelmed. The Rocade was blocked again this afternoon for an hour though it is still not clear what the problem was. NETHERLANDS. The Dutch are increasingly super-hot on not driving in lanes marked with red crosses. The crosses are used in case of road works or accidents and are signed on overhead gantries. A trial in Rotterdam – managed by national roads agency Rijkswaterstaat – saw 300 drivers fined says DKV-Benelux. The penalty was increased to €237 earlier this year reports De Telegraaf.

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BMW beats Audi in the race to market new ‘exceptionally precise’ OLED lights. The official 911-by-the-hour ‘Porsche Driver’ service expands to Berlin, and Switzerland!

Also, Freight News roundup: catching up with the Russia truck protest. Mega fines for French couriers. Germany and Austria hand out incorrect driving rights. UK and Dutch haulage associations both call for the French army in Calais.

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BMW REGAINS THE LEAD IN LUXURY LIGHTING

First production OLED lights on new M4 GTS.

BMW M4 GTS. Photo BMW

It was BMW who invented fancy lighting with its – supposedly – iconic ‘halogen rings’ almost two decades ago.

However, it wasn’t until Audi’s much later LED day-time running lights that the idea really caught on.

Despite showing the first OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) at the 2013 Los Angeles Consumer Electronics Show, Audi has been beaten to the production punch by BMW with the new M4 GTS.

Made up of wafer thin material which illuminates across the entire surface – unlike LEDs which emit points of light – OLEDs dispense with lenses and the rest to allow much more compact light systems.

In the words of BMW, the new units are capable of ‘exceptional precision’.

Swish tail lights are not as useful to British (or right hand) drivers as their front facing counterparts, which now mostly switch for driving on the other side of the road, and do away with the need for fiddly headlamp stickers.

But expect to see a set of OLEDs flashing past on the autobahn very soon.

The next stages are 3D tail lamps then OLED body panels. See more.

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After kicking off in Stuttgart last March, the official 911-by-the-hour ‘Porsche Drive’ programme has now expanded to Berlin, and Switzerland. Prices range from €69 per hour for a Boxster or Cayman to €2599 per week for a 911 (the full Porsche model range is available). The cars can be hired from the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart and the dealerships in Franklinstrasse, central Berlin, and Rotkreuz, beside Zugersee in north central Switzerland, just above the Alps (between Zug and Lucern). Drivers must be at least 27-years old and the deposit is quite hefty but the package does include suggested driving routes. Gift vouchers from €30 are also available. See more, or see Porsche Drive.com.

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roundup Freight News: RUSSIA. Far from petering out, the trucker protest against the new Platon electronic truck toll system is digging in for the winter. Two camps have been established on the outskirts of Moscow says The Moscow Times. Seventy drivers protested outside the city’s presidential administration building yesterday. They want a nationwide referendum on the issue. Meanwhile, this afternoon, an amendment which reduces the fines by up to a hundredfold was signed into law. However, the toll rate will double on 1 March 2016 to 3.06RUB/km (£0.03). Revenues have already reached 1.468RUB billion (£14 million) according to a later report from Moscow Times. FRANCE. Twenty courier companies have been fined more than €670 between them for price-fixing in France from 2004-2010. The local subsidiaries of DHL, FedEx and TNT were caught up in the ring which also colluded on a fuel surcharge reports France24. ‘Nearly the entire fabric of French industry and commerce was affected by the price-fixing practices including the e-business sector which was booming,’ said the Competition Authority. LICENCES. More trouble on driving licences from some surprising countries: ‘In some cases Austria and Germany have given incorrect driving rights to holders of certain truck or bus licences,’ says the December Infringements Package from the European Commission, and ‘Poland has not correctly transposed the rules on normal residence, notably concerning persons who live successively in different Member States,’ it continues. Finland is in trouble too for failing to connect to the EU driving licences network RESPER. The previous infringements package also included several member state referrals on licence rules. CALAIS MIGRANT CRISIS. The RHA Road Haulage Association has renewed its call for the French army to be deployed in Calais to protect truck drivers. It follows a visit to the port last week by chief executive Richard Burnett. He says that the 1300 security staff currently on site – a mix of police and CRS riot squad – are only ‘a drop in the ocean’ compared to the up to six thousand migrants. The TLN Dutch Association for Transport and Logistics also called for the French army today saying the migrant activity around Calais has so far cost its members €150 million.

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Rounding up the situation on Europe’s internal borders as the first French controls are lifted, and the EU makes new proposals on policing the Schengen Zone.

Also, a quick look at tonight’s ‘Our Guy in Latvia’. New secure zones for Calais (or not). Belgium to finally fine foreign drivers (and Italy and Ireland too). Easier access to Hook of Holland ferry port.

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FRANCE LIFTS LUXEMBOURG BORDER CHECKS

Controls on busy stretch taken away after end of Paris climate conference.

The France-Belgium border. Photo @Gendarmerie

As promised, the border controls between Luxembourg and France were completely removed over the weekend. By this morning, traffic flowed freely for the first time in a month.

Border delays on the A3-A31 Luxembourg City and Metz/Nancy were consistently among the longest of those set up in the wake of the Paris Attacks in mid-November (and during the Paris climate conference which finished on Saturday).

Drivers waited for considerably more than an hour at peak times, sometimes up to two hours.

However, many of the other border controls established at the same time – particularly between France and Belgium – are still in place, though they do seem downgraded in recent days.

Big queues on the A16 eastbound from Dunkirk to the Belgian border have not been seen since Saturday. Drivers waited only 30mins on the A14 and A8 into Lille this morning, and only slightly more on the generally busier A7 towards Valenciennes.

Similarly, there are still regular – albeit random – delays on both the Mediterranean and Atlantic sides of the Spain–France frontier.

The French Interior Ministry is not saying much at the moment but, presuming the controls will be steadily relaxed over the next days – and that is a big presumption since the State of Emergency will last for another two months at least – most inconvenient over the holidays will be the checks on the border between Austria and Germany.

Delays of more than one hour are not unusual at peak times, over the weekends and – inevitably – during the holiday getaway days over Christmas and New Year.

The major motorway crossings account for the bulk of the queues but controls are possible on any cross-border road, including the bottleneck B179 Fernpass.

Any vehicle which could carry ‘irregular migrants’ – particularly estate cars, trucks and motorhomes – are liable to be pulled over for an inspection.

Meanwhile, Denmark is gearing up to man its borders according to TheLocal.dk last week (and in fact will do so on 4 January says Euractiv). Sweden extended its controls for another fortnight on 9 December, though it did withdraw the proposal to close to Öresund Link in emergency situations according to Radio Sweden. The Czech Republic is also preparing for the ‘possible re-imposition of border checks’ says Ceske Noviny.

As Austria starts to build a fence on the Slovenian border – the first between two ‘borderless’ Schengen countries – what happens with Europe’s internal borders long term is not clear.

Switzerland ruled out systematic checks last week but the IMF International Monetary Fund said on Friday it was ready to downgrade growth forecasts next year if the situation continues.

The European Commission will make new proposals on policing the EU’s borders tomorrow (Tuesday 15 December).

After a meeting of European interior ministers last month, the fear was that time-consuming checks would be introduced around the passport-free Schengen Zone which, for instance, would impact travellers in and out of the UK.

However (and thankfully) a leaked copy of the revised Schengen Code says that, while systematic checks on EU citizens at all external borders will be compulsory, the new rules are flexible.

‘Where, at the land and sea borders, systematic checks of EU citizens could have a disproportionate effect on the flow of traffic, Member States may carry them out on a targeted basis, based on a risk assessment,’ it says.

Catch up with how the situation has evolved since the Paris Attacks on 13 November at Border Blog.

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‘Our Guy in Latvia’: TV presenter, motorbike racer and truck mechanic Guy Martin heads to his ancestral Latvia to find out more about the family. Like many were forced to do, Martin’s grandfather fought in Hitler’s SS against the Soviets during WW2. Happily, the episode – on Channel 4 tonight at 21:00 – has more light-hearted moments, including driving a 30-year old Lada. More in The Mirror.

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roundup: CROSSING THE CHANNEL. UK Home Office minister James Brokenshire told BBC 5 Live Investigates yesterday that the government is working on a new secure zone at Calais due to be finished in spring 2016. No other details were given. On Friday Lloyd’s Loading List also reported a new ‘secure zone’ for trucks in the former Hoverspeed terminal at Calais, built by the French authorities and in operation by the end of this year. Update 15 December: it appears the two secure areas are actually the same one – the one announced by Home Secretary Theresa May in xx and originally expected to open in August, then November and now in spring 2016 according to a report by Commercial Motor. If/when complete it will have space for 230 vehicles. BELGIUM has finally ratified the EU’s ‘Cross-Border Exchange of Information on Road Traffic Offences’ directive reports Flanders News. It means drivers from most EU countries committing eight traffic offences – speeding, not using a seatbelt, failing to stop at red lights, drink driving, driving under the influence of drugs, not wearing a safety helmet, using a forbidden lane, and illegally using a mobile phone – can now expect to receive a fine in the post at home. The rule does not apply to drivers from the UK, Denmark or Ireland, until some time before May 2017. Despite this, according to ADAC, Ireland and also Italy are also expected to adopt the new regulation ‘soon’. NETHERLANDS. An open day was held on Saturday on the freshly built, greenfield stretch of A4 between The Hague and Rotterdam. Walkers, cyclists and the solar prototype car from the @NuonSolarTeam had a free run along the new 7km section between Delft and Schiedam/A20 ahead of its opening to vehicles ‘before the end of the year’ says roads agency Rijkswaterstaat. The new road is intended to reduce congestion on the parallel A20 into the Hook of Holland to the west (and A13 to the east).

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Within weeks of new funds being announced, the first consultation is launched on a new motorway truck park to replace Operation Stack. But with complications already emerging, can that momentum be maintained?

Also, all roads really do lead to Rome say a group of designers from Stuttgart. Road deaths in France still rising overall this year. More go-slow zones in Paris and Grenoble – but a general speed limit is ruled out in southern Germany.

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MOVING FAST ON NEW OP STACK M20 TRUCK PARK

First consultation on emergency or permanent truck park beside M20.

Highways England has already identified potential sites for a new truck park near the M20 to replace Operation Stack. It comes after £250 million was allocated to the project earlier this month.

Public consultation starts today on two sites, one north and one west (Stanford) of junction 11 of the motorway.

The new facility might also double as a sorely needed permanent, 24h truck park, with space for at least 3,600 vehicles.

The Freight Transport Association welcomed the announcement.

Natalie Chapman, FTA’s Head of Policy for London and the South East, said, ‘Kent desperately needs overnight facilities for lorry drivers to reduce the problem of trucks parking in villages and residential areas. We would urge Highways England to act quickly and consider providing a day-to-day facility for drivers that can also be used in emergencies instead of the Dover TAP [freight traffic management] and Operation Stack.’

The shortage of truck parking in the area is a serious issue. A driver was killed at the weekend after colliding with a truck on a slip road of the M20.

An on-going operation by Kent Police overnight Thursday saw 153 HGVs removed from slip roads and hard shoulders around the motorway.

In a letter to MPs last month, Transport Minister Patrick McLoughlin said work to find a long-term replacement for Operation Stack had started ‘well before’ the summer’s disruption but had been ‘accelerated’ as a result. He added Highways England is ‘progressing the project as quickly as possible’.

After the new funds were announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, at the end of November, Kent County Council leader Paul Carter said having the new truck park in place by November 2016 would be ‘going some’.

However, Highways England will not need planning permission (according to Kent Online) under Section 115 of the Highways Act though it would need an environmental assessment.

The Stanford site would include a new bridge over the M20 while J11 North is further away from the motorway, and close to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). Both are close to residential properties.

Of the four scenarios under consideration, two include permanent overnight parking or ‘truckstop’ services though both would be paid.

The first of eight public information exhibitions are being held over this weekend in Sellindge with the rest to come over the next few weeks.

This consultation runs until midnight on Monday 25 January. A second consultation, on the single preferred site, is expected to take place in spring 2016. See the consultation documents here.

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All roads lead to Rome as the old saying goes and three graphic designers from Stuttgart set out to prove it. Actually what they did was select almost 500,000 starting points from all over Europe and plotted the routes to the Italian capital by computer. The roads used the most came out darkest to create this leaf-like pattern. They also plotted similar maps of all the individual countries in Europe, and the states in America. They are all available as posters too, from €8.50. See more at Moovel Lab.

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roundup: FRANCE. The number of people killed in traffic accidents rose by 3.6% last month compared to November 2014 according to new figures from Securite Routiere. This is half the increase of October 2015 (+ 7.2%) but it pushes up the number of people killed in the first eleven months of this year to 2.1%, up from 2% in the ten months to October. At this rate is looks likely France will see another year of increasing road deaths compared to more than a decade of falls before 2014. It is by no means the only country struggling this year but the problems in France seems more systemic than elsewhere. SPEED LIMITS. Plans are under way to extend 30kmh (18.6mph) zones in Paris. By the spring they should cover around a third of the city, up from 20% now. The main thoroughfares will stay at 50kmh but overall the idea is to have 30kmh as the norm. From the end of next year, 30-zones may cover half the capital. Alps capital Grenoble, which elected a Green Party mayor last year, is another French city planning to go 30kmh – by 1 January, 80% of the city will be covered. Campaign group ’40 Million Automobilistes’ was out canvassing opinions this week with an online survey. More anon. Meanwhile, German transport minister Alexander Dobrindt – him of the ‘foreigner toll’ – has over-ruled attempts by Baden Wurttemberg to impose a general 120kmh limit on the state’s autobahns (which include the A5 Karlsruhe-Basel and A8 Karlsruhe-Stuttgart/Ulm). Baden Wurttemberg has adopted the EU target of cutting accident fatalities by 40% by 2020 and sees reducing the speed limit as the best way of achieving it according to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Dobrindt says general speed limits are a national matter though the state may respond with more, localised 120kmh zones.

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No mega-busy days expected but it will certainly be busy enough at times. Including last boats and truck bans.

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Pushing the boat out for Christmas: Stena Line rebrands Santa Line for the holidays.

Considering the millions of drivers off to visit friends and family, and all those going on holiday, there are (expected to be) very few really busy days on the roads over Christmas and New Year.

This is all relative of course, but there are certainly no block-booked Black Days like in the summer (or like there will be after New Year…)

The complicating factors are the border controls in France, and between Austria and Germany, the weather, and whether – as in the summer – drives pay heed to warnings like these and spread the misery.

But as things stand, the day to watch out for in France – predictably – is Christmas Eve (Thursday 24 December) as drivers head en masse out of Paris.

There are other, lesser, warnings for Friday 18 December nationwide, the next day (but confined to the north and east), Wednesday 23 December away from Paris again, and Sunday 27 December as they all head back again.

In Germany the flash points – though, again, one step down from the worst possible – are every Friday this month until, but not including, Christmas Day itself, then Wednesday 23 December and Saturday 26 December.

Switzerland is deadly quiet overall but gets busier at the weekends from 12 December, culminating in the busiest of all on Saturday-Sunday 26-27 December. Most of the delays will inevitably be focused on the Gotthard Tunnel.

Meanwhile in Austria, apart from being fairly busy on Saturday 19 December, only Saturday 26 December is red marked (though that will be as busy as the little Alpine country can get).

In Italy, Saturday 26 December will be crowded in the morning, especially on the A22 Brennero heading up into the Alps. It should quieten down in the afternoon and on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Mont Blanc Tunnel isn’t expecting to be that busy either with maximum 30min delay warnings at various times on Saturday 19, Wednesday 23 and Sunday 27 December from France to Italy, and in the opposite direction on 23-24, 26-27 and 30-31 December.

Dover (and other ferry ports) are closed on Christmas Day. The final boats depart early to mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, with the last one back from Calais – P&O – at 17:45. Sailings resume on Boxing Day morning (see more on opening hours here).

Overall, Dover says it expects 600,000 passengers between Friday 18 December and Sunday 3 January split between 200,000 cars and 4,000 coaches. The busiest day will be Saturday 19 December when 80,000 people head off for the holidays.

Despite that, it is still possible to buy standard rate cross-Channel fares on the following week days though, thanks to enhanced security checks, DFDS advises customers to check-in 90mins before departure.

Finally, spare a thought for people working at Eurotunnel. When it says it works 24/7 it really means it, albeit with a skeleton service overnight Christmas Day and New Year.

P&O also operates a limited service overnight New Year’s Eve.

Truck Bans: 12-13, 19-20 and 24 December. See more at TrafficBan.com

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High mountain roads have stayed open particularly late this year but Fluela Pass really takes the biscuit. 

Also, a quick look at the Aurora in Lapland. Very welcome extra ships on the Dover Strait in February. Brussels fingers Spanish roads. Bumper camera gear order for unmarked radar cars in France.

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FLUELA PASS STAYING OPEN UNTIL EARLY JANUARY

Unprecedented late closing for high Swiss mountain pass.

Fluela Pass, Graubünden, east Switzerland, June 2014. Photo @DriveEurope

Strangely – considering it tops out at 2383m (7818ft), it normally closes for winter in early December, and it was already snowy when we were there in late June last year – but ADAC insists Switzerland’s Fluela Pass will stay open until early January.

It has been an extraordinarily long mountain driving season this year. Col d’Izoard closed six weeks late last week, as did Col du Galibier. Even so, we understand January would be unprecedented.

Regional roads agency Graubunden Strasseninfos confirms Fluela is still open at the moment albeit ‘schneebedeckt’ (snow covered) and off-limits at night.

Along with Ofenpass – a favourite of Club Mulholland, and also still open at the moment – it runs for nearly 90km from the north end of Stelvio Pass, across the Italian border, to Davos-Klosters in east Switzerland (Graubunden).

EVO magazine enjoyed a recent visit to Fluela in a Porsche Boxster Spyder.

Meanwhile, Transfagarasan is still open too according to Romania-Insider.com. Romania’s blue-chip mountain road has an infamously narrow operating window but Bucharest public transport company RATB managed to demonstrate a new Czech-built electric bus on Monday by driving it over the pass from Pitesti in the south to Balea Lake in the north.

Finally, official French traffic site @TRAFSud also confirmed yesterday that Col de la Cayolle (2326m) closed for the winter today. Of the high Alps roads in France, just Col d’Allos (2250m) is still open.

See more Open in Winter Passes, or see all these roads at PassFinder.

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A Christmassy Aurora roadscape from Lapland (northern Finland). Photo via @OnlyInLapland

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roundup: CROSSING THE CHANNEL. The two former MyFerryLink ships now chartered to DFDS start on the Dover-Calais route in early February. They were due in the last part of this year but needed an extended overhaul after being occupied for several months by striking MyFerryLink workers in Calais this summer. The renamed Cote des Dunes and Cote de Flandres will be deployed on the Dover-Calais route on the 6 and 9 of February respectively according to an announcement at the firm’s latest results. DFDS will then operate three ships apiece on the Calais and Dunkirk routes from Dover. The extra capacity will help reduce the by-now-frequent queues seen at all three Dover Strait ports. SPAIN. A broadly positive report on the Spanish economy has however fingered transport policy reports El Pais English, specifically high speed trains and toll roads. ‘Madrid has given priority to geographic cohesion rather than improving efficiency. Investment policy has focused more on extending infrastructure rather than on the costs of maintaining it,’ says the report. Road operators keep profits while taxpayers shoulder losses it continues. However, aside from some motorways mainly in and around Madrid, recent updates say the country’s road network is starting to recover. FRANCE. Swedish firm Sensys Gatso has received a €1.5 million order for what it coyly describes as ‘in-vehicle safety systems’ from France: i.e. radar gear for unmarked police cars. The unnamed number of systems is due to be delivered in the first half of 2016. The French road safety authority announced last month it would outsource its previously very effective unmarked camera scheme. ‘The use of in-vehicle systems have proven to be a very effective way to reduce road casualties,’ says Sensys Gatso. In fact, unmarked cars have proven to be the only way to cut fatalities in France.

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It turns out the UK already has the ‘virtual driving licences’ recently proposed for foreign drivers in France.

Also, substantial truck toll cut on the A13 Innsbruck Brennerbahn. Hefty detour during A2 Dover overnight works. Proposed Weymouth-Cherbourg fast ferry postponed again. Another significant drop in Luxembourg fuel prices.

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UK ALREADY HAS FRANCE’S ‘VIRTUAL LICENCES’

Foreign already drivers subject to ‘ghost’ licence points and on-the-spot fines.

Removing trucks from an M20 slip road. Photo @KentPoliceRoads

The UK might not market its world leading road safety record as aggressively as next-placed Sweden, but its influence is felt nonetheless.

After Germany’s apparently failed attempt to emulate the British ‘foreigner vignette’ – albeit for car drivers rather than truckers – it emerges the UK already has a system of ‘ghost’ or ‘virtual’ driving licences for foreign drivers, as recently proposed in France.

Kent police yesterday fined several trucks for parking on the hard shoulders and slip ways of the M20, including one vehicle abandoned on the carriageway while the driver apparently went shopping. The majority of the vehicles involved were foreign registered.

It follows a tragic incident early on Sunday morning when a woman was killed after colliding with a truck on the M20 slip road at J7.

In a conversation with Twitter user @YouAreParsons last night, Kent Police revealed that, as well as fines, ‘Points for foreign drivers go onto a ‘ghost’ UK licence with a UK licence number.’

Another driver whose truck was removed from the M20 slip road at J9 coast bound was fined £300 plus three penalty points.

Hard shoulder parking is a live issue currently due to the lack of truck parking in south east England, on the roads to and from the Channel ports, as highlighted by the debate over a new M20 truck park to replace Operation Stack.

France announced in October it will introduce virtual licences for foreign drivers as part of a raft of new measures to improve road safety.

Earlier this year, Germany delayed plans to introduce a road toll for foreign drivers – modelled on the successful UK HGV Road User Levy – after objections from the EU.

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As trucks are banned in Austria (and Italy) today – for the Feast of Immaculate Conception – it emerges truck tolls on the A13 Brennerautobahn – from Innsbruck to the Italian border – will be cut by 25% next year, and by 5% on the A12 Inntalautobahn from Innsbruck to the German border. The controversial move brings the charges into line with the EU Eurovignette Directive which says revenue cannot be more than the cost of the infrastructure. Critics say it will stimulate traffic on an already busy route which currently costs half the Gotthard Alps crossing, and a third of the Frejus Tunnel, Lyon-Turin. Photo the 199m (6320ft) high A13 Europabrucke, via ASFINAG

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roundup: DOVER. The A2 dual carriageway between the Channel and the M25 will close overnight for two months in the New Year says Kent Online. Stretches of both carriageways between the end of the M2 at Faversham and Canterbury will be resurfaced, starting coast-bound. The diversion is a hefty extra 14 miles. CROSSING THE CHANNEL. The proposed Weymouth-Cherbourg high speed ferry service has been postponed again. The operator concerned, High Speed Ferries, needs ‘further financial backing’ Weymouth Council told the BBC. The firm will make a ‘formal announcement’ in the New Year. It was originally slated to start this autumn then postponed to April 2015. LUXEMBOURG. Following the 2.3c/l fall in the price of diesel on Saturday – to a nationally regulated price of €0.946 – petrol has fallen by an even greater margin today. According to Wort.lu, unleaded95 is down 3.1c to €1.094 and unleaded98 to €1.151.

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Far-right leader Marine Le Pen looks set to take power in northern France – but what can she do, if anything, about the Calais Migrant Crisis (not much by the sounds of it)?

Also, snapshot of the 2016 Italian State Police calendar. Tragic wild animal strike in Luxembourg. Trackers mooted for French rental cars. More vignette protests Bulgaria.

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WHAT MIGHT MARINE MEAN FOR THE CALAIS MIGRANT CRISIS?

Front National leader closes in on election victory in northern France.

Marine Le Pen visits Calais on 1 December. Photo via MarineLePen2015.fr

France’s far right Front National party won nearly 30% of votes across the country in yesterday’s first round of regional elections, more than 40% in the Nord Pas de Calais-Picardie region – contested by leader Marine Le Pen – and 50% in Calais itself.

The migrant crisis in Calais has not played a direct role in the election so far. There have been no campaign stunts in or around The Jungle migrant camp for instance.

However, after three nights of migrant and police clashes at the port last month, Le Pen said if she was elected head of Picardy Nord Pas de Calais she would ‘move heaven and Earth to force the state to ensure its duty of protection and safety on every square meter of our region’.

This would involve sending the migrants back to their countries of origin, she says, or refugee camps on the borders of those countries.

Quite how much freedom Le Pen would have to act is not clear. Having recently called local mayors ‘the first and irreplaceable cog in our democracy’ it is hard to see how she could then over-rule Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart, from Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP ‘Les Republicaines’ party.

The newly-formed ‘super-region’ councils cannot make laws and their powers are limited to economic and business development, tourism, public transport, some schools and culture funding.

But it is surely inconceivable Le Pen would tolerate The Jungle, or could afford to politically as the Front National takes power for the first time in France.

The second round of voting takes place next Sunday (13 December). The Socialist candidate who came third in Sunday’s polling has now withdrawn meaning the second round is a straight fight between Le Pen and UMP’s Xavier Bertrand (who won 24.96% of the vote yesterday).

Update 8 December: according to a member of Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart’s team, Marine Le Pen said on France 3 Cote d’Opale TV last night, regarding the migrant crisis, ‘I could not do anything if I am elected as the head of Nord Pas de Calais – this question is not within the competence of a regional council.’

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The Italian state police ‘Polizia di Stato’ 2016 calendar features photos taken by Massimo Sestini, winner of the 2015 World Press Photo of the Year. Sestini specialises in aerial – rather than drone – shots. The winning photo is a bird’s eye view of a boat crowded with refugees taken 25km off the Libyan coast (with a Canon EOS 1 DX). The calendar is available through UNICEF Italia.

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roundup: LUXEMBOURG. A man was killed on the N12 near Wiltz in northern Luxembourg early on Sunday morning after a wild animal ran out in front of his car. The 59 year old from Portugal swerved into the path of an oncoming vehicle reports Wort.lu. Drivers should be extra vigilant in forested areas as autumn turns to winter. In general, animal strikes should be notified to police on 112. FRANCE. It is being widely reported that France is considering mandatory GPS trackers on rental cars as it looks to tighten security in the wake of the Paris Attacks. Such devices could also record speeding. More anon. BULGARIA. The first increase in the cost of the roads vignette since 2008 continues to go down very badly. Angry drivers held up traffic in cities around the country on Saturday for the second weekend in succession says Novinite.com. See more here.

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The storm raging across northern Europe this weekend made no exception for Iceland though roads in the very south escaped almost unscathed.

Visiting drivers are very strongly advised to keep an eye on the weather and road conditions. Luckily, there is plenty of information available in English: at the Iceland Met Office (Vedur.is) and the official traffic website Vegagerdin (Road.is) which also includes webcams, see below, plus safe driving advice, mountain road closures and ferries.

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