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Police issue fines and clamp illegally parked lorry drivers who stop on M20 hard shoulders and slip roads

00:00, 17 December 2015

updated: 14:20, 17 December 2015

Police have issued 58 fines in a 'zero tolerance' approach to illegally parked lorry drivers.

Seven HGVs were even moved to a safe location and clamped until they paid up.

Officers from Kent’s Roads Policing Unit and Highways England have been handing out the graduated fixed penalty notices to drivers parked on hard shoulders and slip roads overnight.

The number of foreign registered lorry drivers caught going over their drivers hours is much higher than the number of British drivers
The number of foreign registered lorry drivers caught going over their drivers hours is much higher than the number of British drivers

On the M20, 28 fines were handed out at junction 8, junction 11 and 11a and the Courtwood by-pass in Capel-le-Ferne. Two drivers failed to pay and were clamped until they did.

On the A2 at Cobham, 30 fines were handed out for illegal parking on the carriageway. Five of these vehicles failed to pay and were also clamped until they paid up.

Graduated fixed penalty notices allow the cost of the fine to go up in accordance with the number of offences and their severity.

Two immobilised lorries were moved from the M20 to the secure area at Dover’s Eastern Docks.
Two immobilised lorries were moved from the M20 to the secure area at Dover’s Eastern Docks.

Superintendent Ian Hall said: "We are operating a zero-tolerance approach to unsafe illegal parking on the hard shoulder and slip roads along our carriageways.

"The hard shoulders are there for those vehicles that break down and are in need of assistance, and for the use of the emergency services.

"Parking on the hard shoulder and slip roads for a rest is simply not acceptable – it is unlawful and unsafe and the police and Highways England are patrolling our road network and will deal with those who flout the law accordingly.

"This is one element of a multi-agency approach to dealing with the boarder issue of unsafe, illegal and antisocial parking of HGVs across the county."

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