it is 10:15am on sunday morning and i am at the port or cherbourg, in france, and the boat which lefterday is just pulling into the dock. i'm hoping my truck is going to be on this boat. within minutes of arriving, truck after truck carrying livestock roll off the boat. i am beginning to get a sense of the scale of the trade. since january this year, more than 100,000 cattle have been shipped to mainland europe from ireland. a lot of them to be reared until ready for slaughter, a process called fattening. my truck isn't on this boat. i am going to have to head into the control post in the hope that they arrive. that's not a cattle truck... suddenly, here it is. the last livestock truck to come off the ferry. the crossing took 17 hours. the animals weren't unloaded and spent all that time inside the lorry. and they're straight into an overland crossing. 0h, we've got the truck. 0h! after several hours on the road, the truck pulls into a service station. by law, the driver gets a break of at least 45 minutes every four and a half hours. the animals don't. they're left in the truck, in t

. —— cherbourg.oth to ensure the cattle were standing and fit for the cattle were standing and fit for the journey, and to the cattle were standing and fit for thejourney, and to protect the cattle were standing and fit for the journey, and to protect himself and moving large animals. —— when moving. back home in scotland, i show our footage to someone who has spent more than 20 years highlighting abuses in the export trade. more than 20 years highlighting abuses in the export tradelj more than 20 years highlighting abuses in the export trade. i think as soon as you see people prodding animals with sticks through the shuts, that is worrying. —— slats. it looks like he is notjust prodding but hitting the animal, and thatis prodding but hitting the animal, and that is totally unacceptable. one of peter stephenson's the frustrations is that scottish calves like the one i have seen, face export. calves born in england don't. the uk government is considering banning all export forfattening government is c