Kent’s at the forefront of travel woes

July 2015 - A previous occasion when lorries have been stacked up on the M20 between Junctions 9 and 10 coastbound

With Kent being labelled as the gateway to Europe, the county has indeed been known in recent years as the lorry park of Britain.

Whether it’s our French counterparts striking, problems in the Channel Tunnel or rough seas halting the ferries, if all stops, inevitably Kent ends up with countless lorries heading for Europe blocking its roads.

The government has historically handled such problems badly, kicking the motorist in the teeth by utilising the M20 between Ashford and Folkestone as a lorry park.

As we’ve seen this month, 1991 - An aerial view of Junction 9 of the M20 also known as Drovers Roundabout. The Ashford International Hotel can be seen in this photo the road can be closed and lorries stacked side by side for Operation Stack, while a dangerous contraflow is put in place on the other carriageway, causing countless amounts of accidents.

This contraflow scheme - namely Operation Brock

- has been the bane of the commuting motorists’ lives in recent years.

The latest incarnation includes a moveable concrete barrier which is in place at the time of writing.

As much as many hate the M20 motorway, it’s our saviour in respect of keeping the traffic moving elsewhere in the town 90% of the time.

With the current Tier 4 restrictions and European countries shutting the borders due to the Covid-19 variant escalation, it’s given chance of a good practice run for transport chiefs to see how their M20 adaptation works in the event of problems after Brexit.

Many of us say ‘why Ashford?’ when it comes to taking the brunt of these transport plans... why not hold the traffic further up the motorway to let another county take the strain of east Kent?

Reading between the lines, there appears to have been an ulterior motive in building the new Junction 10a at Willesborough and Sevington with the government secretly planning to build a massive new lorry park and customs clearance centre at the junction next to the beautiful historic church at Sevington. Mindless planning indeed.

This week, Remember When looks back at a trio of images illustrating the early days of the M20 at Junction 9 and lorries stacking up between Junctions 9 and 10 in 2015.

It just leaves me to wish our loyal readers a happy, safe and healthy 2021 and a hope that normality returns imminently.

Do you have any photographs or slides of old Ashford you would be willing to loan me, to enable them to be scanned for possible feature in the Kentish Express?

Please don’t delay, get in touch! Email me: rememberwhen_kmash@ hotmail.co.uk

Different year, different weather but a familiar sight - Operation Stack on the M20