Kentish Express Ashford & District
Union demands better facilities
The government is falling short when 500,000 lorry drivers are “caught short” looking for toilet facilities, according to Unite, the country’s largest union.
The union is calling for a statutory, legally-binding code of practice so lorry drivers have adequate parking and eating facilities, showers and toilets when they travel across the UK for up to five days at a time.
Ashford has been plagued by the problem of lorries parking up on its industrial estates for years, with some drivers defecating in bushes and leaving plastic bottles full of urine behind when they leave.
Unite described transport minister John Hayes’ written statement to MPs on road freight as “too much talk and not enough action”.
Unite national officer for road transport Adrian Jones said: “The road haulage industry contributes billions of pounds a year to the British economy, but the drivers who contribute to this wealth often have to park up in isolated lay-bys and unappealing industrial estates for the night.
“Too many haulage bosses are quite happy for their drivers to leave the depot and as long as they deliver the load and return on time, they are not overly concerned about how they sleep, eat and shower. We know that this is a particular issue for Kent County Council.
“The ideal would be specialist lorry parks for lorry drivers; safe, secure and clean with the modern facilities you would expect from the world’s sixth largest economy.
“At present, the picture is very mixed. Some privately-owned lorry parks are very good and others leave a lot to be desired.
“Unite believes that urgent action needs to be taken to oblige developers to include parking facilities for drivers in their plans as well as a national minimum standard for parking facilities, underpinned by a statutory code of practice.”