Ongoing irresponsible lorry parking across Shepway is driving angry residents to take to social media and report problems to councillors.
The problem of lorry parking appears to be worsening – despite a ban on lorry parking on nearly 20 streets and lay-bys across the District. Shepway District Council has issued 230 Penalty Charge Notices in the last three weeks and the number of tickets issued is escalating, but the misery caused by lorries parking in our towns and villages continues.
However, these problems appear not to be caused by Operation Stack, but more to do with the sheer volume of lorries waiting to cross the Channel on a daily basis.
Cllr Malcolm Dearden, Cabinet Member for Transport, believes the long-term solution lies in provision of well-managed lorry parks, but says: “To make the lorry ban effective, we have always believed the Council needs to clamp illegally-parked lorries. We are pushing Kent County Council to allow us to do so now the trial in Ashford is over.”
Shepway District Council is also concerned that the introduction of queuing on the M20 and A20 is sometimes blocking local junctions around Folkestone, and it is also receiving more reports from residents about lorries parking on hard shoulders and slip roads of motorways.
Whatever measures are taken, it seems likely that the problem of how to manage the huge numbers of lorries on our roads and their impact on Shepway is set to rumble on…