A look inside
After years of planning, the new Ashford International Truckstop finally opened its doors late last year. A few months on, reporter Liane Castle takes a peek inside...
With 660 parking spaces, a gym, restaurant and gaming area, Ashford is home to Europe’s largest lorry park. Ashford International Truckstop used to have 410 spaces but in December, the facility in Sevington expanded and moved from its old site to a bigger spot next door.
The move came as part of a £34 million investment which upgraded facilities such as the coffee shop, the bar and a restaurant and saw the installation of six accommodation rooms for truckers looking for a place to rest.
Just down the road is the Sevington Inland Border Facility where drivers can process customs paperwork for the goods they are transporting.
Darren Smith, general manager at the Ashford International Truckstop, who helped design the new space, says he travelled through Europe to find the best facilities to bring to Ashford.
He said: “I was given a blank canvas with this park.
“We did a survey asking drivers what they wanted and I went to Germany, Netherlands and France to look at their facilities.
“From that we found the shower pods. They mean truckers have their own toilets, sink and shower in one place so they can get ready in one area.
“That was a key thing each driver wanted too.
“We’ve also got a gym, a lorry wash and six accommodation rooms each with a unique design and underfloor heating.
“We have wi-fi pods, a 24-hour restaurant, a coffee shop area, a shop, a gaming area and a private area for people to talk to their families.
“It’s all state-of-the art but if you go further up the country, trucking is still stuck in the ‘90s.
“Inside the old truck stop was about 15 years old, it wasn’t a bad facility but until you come up here you notice the difference.
“The reception area was tiny, the restaurant and bar are bigger here and there is much more space for people which is good with Covid.
“It’s a much more comfortable stay here and drivers are much happier.”
The upgrades have also allowed the truck stop to increase facilities for women as more female drivers are entering the industry.
While it is still male dominated, Mr Smith said before
Brexit there were about 2% to 3% of women drivers but this has now risen to between 10% to 15%.
Despite the vast number of spaces available, truckers parking up on local roads is still causing a nuisance in Ashford, particularly on the Henwood Industrial Estate.
When the park reaches full capacity, which it often does, up to 90 drivers can be turned away each night on a weekday.
Ashford MP Damian Green says he would like to see clamping powers increased in the town to try and tackle this, adding: “I’ve written to ministers saying there should be more powers for Ashford Borough Council to clamp lorries in parts of the town where it’s a problem.
“So far they haven’t agreed because you need a traffic control order to do that.
“We have learnt that clamping does work. The thing any lorry driver hates is delay, they want to get on the road after their rest time so if they think they’re going to be clamped, they won’t park there.
“In other parts of the borough we have found there used to be problems where there aren’t any more.
“Higher fines might work but the key is having the enforcement powers.
“Now that we have the extra spaces at the truck stop, there is much less excuse for parking illegally but we still need to enforce against those who do.”
Mr Smith added that while the truck stop has helped to alleviate the problem, there is still a need for more facilities like this in the county to stop it.
“An average large lorry park is about 300 to 350 spaces so we are significantly larger,” he said.
“I don’t know if that makes us crazy, but we are certainly much bigger than anywhere you