The Road Haulage Association (RHA) is actively engaged in continuing talks over the problems of truck parking with the Department for Transport, both with officials and with the logistics minister, Paul Clark.
Progress has been slow but the DfT is moving forward. It has taken responsibility for developing lorry parking policy back from the Highways Agency -something for which the RHA had lobbied strongly.
A Truck Parking Action Plan has been developed by DfT officials in discussion with the RHA and we will be emphasising its importance at a meeting with Paul Clark next month.
“There are no easy, quick-fix solutions but the Action Plan points to clear and specific commitments to progress,” says RHA director of policy Jack Semple.
“It is unfortunate that the secretary of state, Lord Adonis, incorrectly stated that truck parking was not a national problem and suggested that
drivers were to blame for their use of lay-bys (BBC Radio 2 Jeremy Vine Show). The department has in fact a keen appreciation of the problems, in our experience.
“We trust that this will be further underlined in our meeting with Paul Cark, who has truck parking in his immediate brief”.
