A20 truck parking ban mooted

Commercial Motor

March 31, 2015

HGVs could be stopped from parking on the A20 in Kent as part of a raft of measures to address traffic problems caused when there is disruption at the Port of Dover.

Transport minister John Hayes said he was keen to introduce a traffic order preventing any parking along the A-road.

He also supported the idea of using revenue raised through the HGV road user levy to fund an “advanced check-in” lorry park at Stop24 near Folkestone.

The minister spoke during a Commons debate arranged by Dover MP Charlie Elphicke last week, which discussed problems associated with Operation Stack and traffic chaos in Kent.

Elphicke said the traffic situation in the port town must be treated as a national strategic priority and proposed that a 1,000-space lorry park further up the M20 be used as an advanced check-in for HGVs before they are streamed in.

“It is ridiculous that lorries can simply head into Dover irrespective of whether there is space for them or a ferry available,” he said.

“The issue needs to be dealt with and a site near Folkestone with the possibility of 1,000 spaces has been identified.”

Elphicke also said that the police needed to clamp down on illegal HGV parking on the A20, as well as enforcing weight restrictions on outside lanes and other measures to ease congestion on the A20 and M20.

Hayes concluded that the answers were likely to be a mixture of private and public sector actions and added: “I expect the public to see a real difference in the coming months and weeks.”

The move comes after warnings that manual passport checks being carried out at cross-Channel terminals for travellers leaving the UK from next month will cause traffic chaos.

The Home Affairs Committee has since questioned government plans for cross-Channel exit checks.

In related newsm Ashford Borough Council recently said it would step up efforts to clamp non-UK-registered lorries parked illegally as part of efforts to keep traffic moving.