Dover, UK: The Road Haulage Association is calling for a permanent alternative to Operation Brock “for handling lorries adjacent to the M20”.
The RHA wants the Department for Transport, BEIS, Number 10, Kent County Council, the police and National Highways to urgently work with industry on a specification for a “Channel Contingency Site” and to identify viable locations and options.
The RHA stresses that the M20-Dover Straits route is Great Britain’s most important corridor for international road freight. It accounts for around 3.6 million lorry movements per year, 55% of the market. It is the main corridor for fresh food to move between the UK and continental Europe.
The RHA says: “The effective management of this route is of strategic national importance.. When operational disruptions to cross-channel traffic occur, there needs to be nationally provided infrastructure in place and a collective understanding of both the time and systems needed to recover.
“For this reason, the RHA believes there needs to a permanent contingency site. A site designed for contingency use when there is disruption crossing the channel, used and managed by the police and highway authorities to control and direct the flow of lorries and to provide rest, food and hygiene facilities for drivers while held.
“Permanent communication and control infrastructure would be available on the site, allowing for more efficient, safer control of the lorry flow. It could be used for tunnel and/or ferry disruptions to avoid the now routine on-road holding of lorries. Such a site could also be used to provide priority for perishable and hazardous products when managing disruptions.
“Everyone is doing their best, working very hard, to keep the county and trade moving safely. But it is not good enough, and we cannot keep doing this every time operational disruption occurs. It is unfair on the people of Kent, unfair for lorry drivers, expensive and time consuming for the police and is damaging the economy and reputation of the UK. It is time to take decisive action and deal with this long-term problem.”
At the same time Logistics UK is calling for urgent review of Operation Brock as humanitrian concerns are raised.
Logistics UK says that Operation Brock – a Kent traffic management system intended to keep vehicles moving when there is disruption to travel across the English Channel – is leaving hundreds of HGV drivers stuck without access to basic hygiene facilities, food and water.
Heidi Skinner, policy manager – South at Logistics UK, says:“Logistics UK is calling for an urgent review into the effectiveness of Operation Brock as a traffic management scheme, and most importantly, the humanitarian issues it raises as HGV drivers are left unable to access basic hygiene facilities, food and drink; local residents are also left to cope with challenging road diversions and disruption.
“Over the past couple of weeks, Operation Brock has been implemented for its first period of prolonged use and there are undoubtedly lessons that need to be learned. HGV drivers accessing the Short Straits (the quickest way to get from the UK to the European Continent) have to use the set route to join the queuing system, and must stop to use facilities before they get too far along the route, as, once their vehicles enter the queueing system, these drivers have no access to any facilities at all, including toilets. HGV drivers must be given access to basic welfare facilities while in long queues; this review is needed urgently, and we must consider how our HGV drivers can be better provided for when there are delays in accessing our ports in Kent.
“In the meantime, we need to see a rapid reinstatement of full ferry capacity before the weekend; this has been the key contributing factor to the traffic queues, along with ferries that were out of action due to damage, bad weather and increased friction at the border caused by the UK’s departure from the EU.”
