Kent County Council’s relentless enforcement of its HGV parking ban is showing no signs of slowing down, with figures published last Friday revealing over 1,500 trucks have been clamped this year.
In total, 1,569 trucks have been clamped in 2021, a rise of 879 since the last known update on February 11th. According to Kent Online, 83% of the trucks clamped are registered abroad, with the remainder naturally coming from the UK.
As has been well documented, Kent County Council introduced a strict parking ban in the region in January, and made it clear that trucks parking in laybys would be clamped. The only exceptions to the ban have been as follows:
- The A249 between M20 J7 and M2 J5
- The A299 M2 J7 to junction with the A256
- The A256 junction with A299 to junction with A2
- Eastbound laybys along the A299 Thanet Way (as of mid-February)
The parking restrictions have enraged a number of truckers and hauliers, particularly because of Kent’s shortage of parking options for HGVs. Indeed, lorry drivers past and present, as well as hauliers and the RHA, have been doing all they can to have the strict parking restrictions relaxed.
However, Kent County Council has stood firm and there are no indications of councillors compromising.
Speaking at an online Kent County Council meeting last week, Conservative councillor Sean Holden referred to HGVs parking in “inappropriately” in laybys as having “a devastating effect on the quality of life for some people” and also added that it “causes harm to the environment and to our road system.”
Andrew Bowles, another Conservative councillor in Kent, also backed Kent County Council’s measures:
“This has been a major problem for some considerable time and the fact we are getting fewer reoffenders shows there are alternatives. This country has been seen as a total soft touch compared to others like Belgium and France and that is not in the interest of our residents.”
Bowles’s suggestion that there are parking alternatives has nonetheless been derided in the Kent Hauliers and Drivers Facebook Page. Sebastian Barrow, who has been leading the campaign against the parking ban, said there was a “quite a bit of complete crap” in the aforementioned statements.
In a reply published on social media, Mr Barrow said that the reason HGV parking had become an issue was “quite simply through the failure of KCC and Government in ensuring there are enough affordable and decent parking areas.”
Moreover, Mr Barrow took issue with Sean Holden’s comments, to which he replied:
How does parking in Industrial Estates or lay-bys really have all the „devastating effect” he talks about? Let us just take a step back and think about this. Industrial Estates are built, in general away from housing so sensible and legal parking at a collection/delivery point is of huge benefit to the driver and his hours. Lay-bys are also, in general, on main trunk routes and again away from housing. I cannot think of any lay-bys that would have a negative impact on residents and am still at a loss to understand the faulty logic of no overnight parking at Hothfield.
Mr Barrow’s full statement can be read on the Kent Hauliers and Drivers Facebook Page.
There also concerns in the group that the parking ban could be extended to regions bordering Kent, or perhaps even go nationwide. It must be stressed however, that we have yet to see any evidence that this will actually be the case.
