Call for safe and secure HGV parking

Road hauliers, MPs and parking providers deliver letter and petition to 10 Downing Street

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has handed an open letter and petition to 10 Downing Street calling for more safe and secure parking for truckers and coach drivers. The RHA is concerned that poor conditions and insecure sites mean many lorry drivers now believe they can do better parking offsite.

The RHA is also pushing for more safe and secure parking. The government’s National Survey of Lorry Parking Spaces found that usage of overnight parking facilities across the country is at a near critical level, with more than 100 sites fully used and a third of all lorries parked in laybys and industrial estates over the survey period.

The RHA estimates an additional 11,000 parking spaces are needed, particularly in the South-East, East Midlands and East of England where usage rates are over 90%.

The open letter calls for the Prime Minister to take action to provide more safe and secure overnight parking spaces for hauliers and coach drivers, specifically:

• Establish a cross-departmental taskforce to review existing driver facilities and work with industry, operators, and local authorities on a viable long-term solution to increase available facilities across the country.

• Reform the existing planning framework, working with local authorities to ensure that appropriate parking plans are developed to meet industry needs.

• Commit to the increased funding for roadside facilities, looking at both quantity and quality.

Parliamentarians signed the open letter, which was co-ordinated by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Road

Freight and Logistics. The APPG argues that improved facilities should be central to the government’s plans to recruit, train and support commercial vehicle drivers.

Greg Smith MP, chair of the APPG on Road Freight and Logistics, said: “A key element of the issues around driver recruitment and retention is the poor state of our roadside facilities. It is imperative the UK ups our game, ensuring drivers have safe, secure, comfortable, and affordable options that they know they can rely on.”

The RHA says this situation leads to drivers taking rest periods in insecure locations such as laybys and industrial estates often. There they have no access to basic facilities, and no protection from criminals looking to steal valuable loads and fuel.

The MPs joined thousands of signatories including truckers on an RHA petition pressing the government to do more to tackle the poor standards commercial vehicle drivers experience at service stations and truck stops.

Richard Smith, RHA managing director, said: “We’re delighted with the support we’re getting from parliamentarians, businesses, people in our industry and the public for our campaigning to secure better driver facilities on our roads. Commercial vehicle drivers are vital to our economy so better food, toilets, showers, and somewhere safe and secure to sleep are the very least they deserve. We’d like to thank the APPG and thousands in our industry for backing our campaign as we press the government to help us kick-start a new culture for drivers to feel safer and more respected.”

Companies, including service station giant Moto, have also signed up to the campaign and have endorsed an RHA petition to the Prime Minister which has the support of nearly 20,000.

Ken McMeikan, chief executive of Moto Hospitality, said: “Moto are absolutely delighted to support this campaign. We have believed for a long time that the UK’s unsung heroes have been the HGV drivers and they deserve, given the challenges of their role, good, secure conditions where they can rest, eat, sleep and shower. That’s not too much to ask but sadly they are very wanting at the moment in many parts of the UK and we all have to do more.”

The British Parking Association (BPA) was among the organisations signing the petition. It said: “Coach and lorry drivers deserve better roadside facilities, including parking that is safe and secure. That is why we have joined the Road Haulage Association’s campaign lobbying government for action. HGV drivers help to keep our shops stocked and our economy moving. Not only do they deserve better parking facilities but better food, toilets and showers.”

The RHA has worked with road transport software developer Mandata to find ‘The UK’s Kindest Town’. They are asking truckers and others in the industry to nominate their kindest town based on their experiences, including access to safe parking, food and showers.