Lorries parked overnight in a Sittingbourne road have led to complaints about access problems, human waste and litter.

Foreign-registered HGVs have been stopping in Tribune Drive after it was highlighted on a website as being free to park, with no parking restrictions.

The number has been increasing and reached a peak when Operation Stack was in force while there were problems with ferries and the Channel Tunnel.

Businesses say drivers have left excrement and rubbish behind and their parked lorries have made it difficult for firms to get their own vehicles in and out safely.

Sue Cox, a partner in IAC Delivery Solutions in Tribune Drive, which she runs with her husband, said: “The most disgusting thing is they use the area as a picnic parlour and a public toilet. They poo and pee.

“We know it’s not foxes because foxes don’t use wet wipes.

“It’s not safe for me or my drivers when lorries are on both corners of my drive and I cannot see past them. You have to pull out a little bit at a time and then take a risk to go.”

Cllr Roger Clarke (Con), representative for Milton Regis on Swale council, said he saw 12 lorries parked there one night last week.

“They do it with impunity because they know no one will do anything about it,” he said. “When they leave human waste lying around for others to pick up, it beggars belief.”

Cllr Clarke said parking in the Tribune Drive area overnight should be banned: “I know they’ve got to go somewhere but something has to be done.”

MP Gordon Henderson said he had raised the issue with Kent County Council, Swale council and police. He said: “The only way to solve it is to make it illegal to park in such areas.”

Swale council has installed anti-littering signs and the estate’s management has employed litter pickers but there has been little progress on preventing lorries from parking there in the first place.

Police remain powerless to act unless vehicles are deemed to have parked in a dangerous position.