Truck drivers in Spain staged slow-moving protests along ring roads around major cities and others blocked border crossings with France.

Around 200 trucks converged on the four main roads leading into Bordeaux in France itself, creating significant traffic jams.

In Portugal, truck drivers threatened to paralyse the country.

In all three nations trucks defying the strike have had their tyres slashed and windscreens smashed.

Some striking drivers are also blocking factory entrances to stop other drivers picking up their loads.

In Spain, drivers say they will block oil refineries as well.

Fishermen in France who had been on strike for weeks have now returned to work, but their counterparts in Spain remain on indefinite strike.

In Spain, diesel prices have risen 20 per cent since the start of the year.

The Spanish Government has offered early retirement packages and emergency loans for tens of thousands of striking drivers.

A spokesman for one of Spain's main driver's unions, Juan Jose Heel, says the price of fuel has to come down.

"We are asking for the Government to establish a minimum price that the clients of the transport companies must pay to try to cover the price of the petrol," he said.

The rest of the article may be read at abc.net.au
By Europe correspondent Rafael Epstein