Town centre has become operation stuck for lorries
00:00, 11 August 2015
Lorries squeezing through Faversham town centre’s tiny streets are an “accident waiting to happen”, it is feared.
Owner of Disgruntled Cat Vintage and Revivalist Clothing store Louise Fletcher says that HGVs negotiating the corner between Preston Street and East Street are becoming stuck four or five times a week.
Their huge wheels mount the pavement and leave little room for pedestrians and cyclists – sometimes being wedged for as long as 30 minutes.
Police have stepped in a number of times in an attempt to control the chaos.
Louise believes something needs to be done, and the cars parking outside her shop in East Street, ignoring the yellow lines, are only adding to the hazardous gridlock.
The chaotic arrangement follows a council decision to change the direction of the one-way system so that vehicles would leave the town centre through narrow Preston Street, rather than East Street, and onto the wider carriageway of Newton Road.
Louise said: “It’s an accident waiting to happen. A pram could get squashed or someone could get hit.
“It’s an accident waiting to happen. A pram could get squashed or someone could get hit." - Louise Fletcher
“I feel sorry for the lorry drivers because they have to get to this end of town and there’s only one way out.
“With Iceland and the furniture shop being here, there’s no other way for them to drop off their deliveries.
“It’s an ongoing issue which does not seem to be getting any better.
“People are parking on the double yellow lines and they do not care about the restrictions in the area and the added trouble they are causing for the lorry drivers trying to get through town.”
Louise thinks that a strict delivery or pick-up policy should be imple, mented in the town centre, in which drivers can only use the designated car parks.
She added: “Nobody should be allowed to park in the town centre. There are so many car parks which are just seconds away. There really aren’t many times when there is a real need to park right bang in the town centre.
“But I suppose that isn’t a solution for the lorries.”
