News

Kent County Council is putting pressure on the government to take urgent action on lorry parking with an online petition calling for the end of the controversial Operation Stack scheme. Operation Stack - where hundreds of lorries park on the M20 when the port of Dover is closed - came into force for the third time this year due to last week's bad  weather. Now the council is saying "enough is enough" and insists that the government must accept the responsibility to fund a permanent lorry park for at least 2,000 vehicles - to limit the growing problem of illegal lorry parking in Kent.

As a short-term solution KCC is also suggesting a "quick moveable barrier" which would help maintain two-way flow on the northbound carriageway of the M20 between junctions 11 and 12 while allowing lorries to be parked on the southbound carriageway. KCC cabinet member Keith Ferrin says the county has borne the impact of cross Channel freight traffic for too long, and the problem will get worse as traffic grows. "We hope that the petition will allow people to tell the government that we need action and that we need it now," he adds.

Mike Rudd, operations director at Seymour Transport, Maidstone, says: "Operation Stack causes a lot of chaos and problems and I agree that we need some sort of parking facilities  in Kent but question the need for a lorry park so big." The "End Stack Now" petition can be accessed at www.kent.gov.uk/news.