Calls have been made for two laybys near Dover to be closed to stop lorries parking dangerously.

Mark Moorhouse, a Sandwich town councillor and chairman of Sandwich Chamber of Commerce, is raising this issue after he was involved in an accident last month.

Mr Moorhouse, who works at Megger in Dover, was on his usual commute on January 29, on the slipway from the A256 Whitfield roundabout to the A2, when he collided with a lorry, which parked in the lay-by with its back-end obstructing the road.

He said: “I managed to swerve. If I had gone smack into it, it would have been gruesome.”

He said bright sunshine meant he didn’t see the lorry until the last second and it has caused severe damage to his wing mirror and scraped the side of his car.

He claims often it is Eastern European drivers heading to the port who have little knowledge or respect for the road.

He said: “More importantly than anything, the two laybys should be closed between Duke of York and Whitfield. I feel the organisations are burying their heads in the sand.”

He also shared his concerns over “dangerous” flooding near the bridge at the Duke of York roundabout in Dover.

The Mercury reported last week that John Sheridan, 27, was forced to swerve to avoid the water in what he described as a “death trap”.

Mr Moorhouse has contacted Kent County Council, Kent Police, the Institute of Advanced Motorists and Brake.

He says the government needs to act to ensure parking of HGVs does not pose a threat to public safety, especially when roads around the port become busy.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said: “It is the responsibility of road users to use the road carefully and anyone that doesn’t, risks penalties under the law. We do look at these [laybys] on a regular basis.

“If it reveals there is a particular area where there is a significant issue we look to mitigating that. We liaise with the local authority and emergency services and other interested parties.

“I’m not aware of any specific plans to close these two laybys, but we will continue to look into it.

“If they do feel there is a particular section of the Highways Agency network, then please do get in touch with us and we would investigate any issues that people have.

“I’m very sorry to hear about the individual incident they had, but we need to look at these things as a whole.”