Campaigners who helped put an end to the clamping of HGVs in Kent have warned that the local council will continue to monitor parking strictly. Drivers have also been urged to keep laybys tidy so as not to provide ammunition for politicians desperate to see clamping return.
In a message shared in various trucking groups last Friday, campaigner Sebastian Barrow pleaded with drivers to park legally and dispose of rubbish properly. If this is not done, Barrow fears that restrictions and clamping will come back:
Any restrictions prior to 4th January 2021 are still enforceable as before. For instance, on the A20 at Hothfield where there is “No overnight parking” which has been the case for a number of years. BUT and this is the important bit, you can be very very sure that councillors and the like from KCC, Borough Councils and Local Councils as well as local residents WILL be monitoring HGVs parked in lay-bys, industrial estates or anywhere away from services etc. So, I implore you all to ensure you leave absolutely no sign that you parked there overnight. Keep all of your rubbish in the cab if there are no rubbish bins and dispose of at the next rubbish bin you come across. If you do just chuck everything out of the window, then I can assure you that KCC will reimpose the restrictions and clamping will return!! The ball is in your court!
In order to highlight the point, Mr Barrow has shared the photo above, which shows a truck illegally parked in Selligne, Kent last Friday morning. The vehicle was parked on the path outside a private house for over 13 hours.
Besides writing to drivers, Mr Barrow has also written to Ann Allen of Kent Council Council to call for more bins on laybys and to highlight the lack of sufficient parking spaces in the region:
If the Ban is brought back in within the next 6 months to a year, then we all know the problems that will arise and it will be another loss-making scheme to KCC. A total lack of sufficient parking spaces in Kent or neighbouring counties due to a lack of action and investment by all concerned contributes to this problem. So it would make sense to have rubbish bins/mini skips placed within lay-bys or certainly heavily used lay-bys. It would also make sense to have multilingual signs at the same locations to drive the message home to EU drivers. Throwing rubbish on the ground is not acceptable!! At least this will be a stop gap until new truck stops as described in my previous email can come to fruition.