Lorry drivers stranded in Kent have been offered just a single cereal bar each according to Rod McKenzie, managing director of the Road Haulage Association.
During an interview on BBC Breakfast, McKenzie said the paltry offer from the council was doing little to help morale among the drivers:
„Many of them are European drivers trying to get home for Christmas. Yesterday Kent County Council offered each of them one cereal bar, which is a pretty poor effort, I think in terms of maintaining their morale, and their spirits.”
McKenzie then went on to say toilet facilities were also a „big issue” and that there are concerns regarding health and cleanliness.
On the same programme, Home Secretary Priti Patel said that the government had been diverting lorries to the Brexit Lorry Park at Manston airport, which offers support and welfare services to lorry drivers. As you can see from the image in the Tweet below, trucks are already flowing into the lorry park.
The scene at Manston Airport this morning https://t.co/UR7IoB0IQJ pic.twitter.com/aG1OmPklcE
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) December 22, 2020
Patel also told the BBC that coronavirus tests „of some sort” are part of the discussions the UK is having with France regarding plans to reopen the border:
“Testing of some sort is part of the discussions that the transport secretary is having with his counterpart in France right now. Getting those tests up and running can happen pretty quickly, but in terms of the details of that, that is something both the transport secretary and his counterpart will be discussing right now so I don’t want to speculate in terms of the nature of the testing and how soon that can be up and running.”
Photo credits: Helmut Zozmann + Geograph UK / Tom Verdoot from Pexels