According to RHA infrastructure manager Chrys Rampley, the Policy currently addresses the issue of Operation Stack and for obstruction to other road users when trucks have to queue outside entrances to ports, but the needs of the road haulage community have been entirely overlooked.
The RHA is calling for the Policy to require adequate parking in five respects:
- On the port estate or close proximity
- Some distance from the port, to allow drivers to continue their journey for an hour or so
- To take statutory rest (such as overnight parking)
- Ablutions and other basic facilities
- Security, for the protection of both load and driver
"We have been discussing with the government for some time the seriously inadequate provision of lorry parking for the UK and have been encouraged by the launch of transport minister Paul Clark's Lorry Parking Strategy and its 10-point Action Plan. That is a positive start," says Ms Rampley.
However, she added that ministers need to go further. Increased port capacity - both deep-sea and ro-ro - generates more truck traffic.
"Facilities for the industry and its drivers are already sub-standard and improvements must be stated in the NPS - as a pre-condition of continued UK port development," Ms Rampley concluded.
