A 92-year-old woman was left in tears after she missed a medical appointment because of severe traffic caused by the trucker protest in Dublin on Wednesday morning.
A listener told RTE’s Claire Byrne Live that her elderly mother had waited two years for the hospital procedure that would now have to postponed.
Despite leaving their house at 6am, they were stuck sitting in traffic on the motorway and only moved a couple of metres in two hours.
Writing in to the show, the listener said: “I'm sitting next to my 92-year-old mother. We left the house at 6am to go into Dublin for a medical day procedure that my mother has been waiting two years for.
“We are currently sat in traffic on the M50 having spent the last two hours driving just a few meters.
“We have long since missed her appointment.
“My mother is in tears. The hospital is hugely apologetic and will try to reschedule her as soon as possible but I know that will be difficult.
“The traffic warning signs on the motorway now say tailback for 15 kilometres. I don’t know what will be gained by this.
“My mother wants to go home but we obviously can’t get turned around.”
Hundreds of truck drivers from across Ireland arrived in Dublin today for a protest to demand that the Irish government lowers the cost of fuel in order to save their industry.
The groups, who call themselves the Irish Truckers and Haulage Association Against Fuel Prices, travelled in slow-moving convoys into Dublin city centre early this morning.
The truckers remain parked on Kildare street and streets close to the Dail on Wednesday afternoon in protest against rising fuel costs.
Dubliners took to social media to complain about the noise as the truck convoys reached the city centre tooting their horns.
Alongside the noise complaints, the protest caused major traffic disruption on routes into the capital and in parts of Dublin city centre as well.
The latest update from Gardai said the worst of the traffic is now on the M50 southbound from Junction 7 at Palmerstown to Junction 9 at Red Cow.
