Ashford International Truckstop has revealed that a government initiative will see HGVs redirected to Kent truckstops instead of being queued up on the M20 as part of Operation Brock.
As a consequence, the truckstop has confirmed that it would be switching off its reservation system for two periods in the next few weeks – from Thursday 26th May until Sunday 29th May, and Thursday 2nd June until Saturday 4th June.
The decision made by the government to help drivers have better facilities and not stuck by the roadside will apply to all truckstops throughout Kent. Parking, food and drink will be supplied free of charge.
Writing on its official Facebook Page, Ashford International Truckstop announced last night that lorries would be held in truck parks instead of on the roads. They say “due to the situation during the Easter period where Operation Brock was deployed to help deal with the volumes of trucks in Kent, it has been decided to hold HGVs in truck parks in the south during the school holidays instead of on the roads, giving you a better place to rest.”
“During these two periods we will only be taking trucks of which are sent to us from Operation Brock and going out bound. You will be given a ticket leaflet allowing you in and supplying you with food and drink whilst on site.”
Reacting to criticism from a driver, who said the move was just a means of keeping roads clear for holidaymakers, Ashford International Truckstop’s Facebook admin also confirmed that other truckstops in the area would be doing similar, and that the measure comes from the government:
It remains to be seen how this traffic measure will be managed and facilitated.
drivers that are working within the borders of the country will have even less parking overnight
It begs the question that if there is capacity to take HGVs away from Operation Brock, why has this not been done before, in order to provide drivers with proper facilities?
An issue that one lorry driver has touched on is a loss of parking capacity for lorry drivers transporting goods within the UK, which will give them worse conditions.
One HGV driver wrote “The issue I see with this, although I support it, is the drivers that are working within the borders of the country will have even less parking for overnight in the south than we have already, and that’s already not enough. Basically, instead of the roads being blocked, the drivers within the borders will be forced into lay-bys and industrial estates with no facilities.”
