Low pay, fuel fines, cramped cabs: drivers at haulier used by major retailers speak out

Employees at Lithuanian freight operator Girteka complain of hard conditions on the road, including one who says he fell seriously ill but co-drove his truck 800 miles after emerging from hospital

Drivers for one of Europe's biggest delivery firms, which works for Amazon, Ikea and DHL, claim they are being left with no option but to sleep in their trucks for months and are earning well below the minimum wage in most of the countries they visit, according to an Observer investigation.

In a series of interviews conducted in Belgium in March, drivers at the Lithuanian haulier Girteka, which says it employs 19,000 people across Europe, said they had spent weeks at a time sleeping in cramped cabs, often sharing a bunk with a co-driver.