Councils team up to tackle lorry drivers parking overnight

TWO COUNCILS have teamed up to tackle the “anti-social” overnight parking of lorries in and around industrial estates.

North Yorkshire county and Hambleton district councils have formed a joint working party following concerns raised, particularly in the Thirsk and Leeming Bar areas. Hambleton’s scrutiny committee heard claims drivers were avoiding truck stops – where councillors said there were facilities – by parking outside homes and on trading estates.

The move follows the issue being raised in Parliament earlier this year, with MPs saying lorries that had been parked overnight in the wrong places had caused fatal road incidents.

Mid Kent MP Helen Whatley said: “Everyone we speak to, including the Road Haulage Association, the Freight Transport Association, Highways England, local councillors and our constituents, will give the same common-sense answer – we must build more lorry parks. That seems deceptively simple. We know that there is demand for more truck stops.”

Bedale councillor John Noone added the issue had been exacerbated in North Yorkshire by the Coneygarth truck stop near Bedale becoming oversubscribed.

He said: “It is a huge problem at Leeming Bar and at Thirsk as well. At Leeming Bar, wagon drivers are parking outside people’s houses, and they are throwing all sorts of horrible stuff into their gardens.”

County and district councillor David Hugill said while the anti-social issue was countywide, Hambleton had the biggest problem. He said: “In these industrial estates there are no washing or toilet facilities.”