Kent council chases foreign LGV drivers for unpaid fines
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By Derren Heyes THOUSANDS OF foreign LGV drivers are being pursued by a Kent council for non-payment of £240,000 in parking ines.
Ashford Borough Council has employed a specialist overseas debt collection irm to track down owners of foreign-registered vehicles issued with parking penalties.
The council’s operations manager John Burns told CM that around 80% of the 3,400 £70 ines – issued for stopping overnight outside of designated lorry parks in and around the town – are unpaid. More than 90% of ines are given to lorries from France, Spain and eastern European countries, he adds. The council introduced an overnight parking ban for vehicles over 3.5 tonnes following problems with lorry drivers leaving excrement by the side of the road when parking up overnight. Prior to the restrictions, up to 50 lorries a night were parking illegally in and around the Orbital retail and business park near the A20. Although the num bers have now dropped, Burns says it’s still a problem due to the limited number of truckstop facilities in the area.
“Most [foreign drivers] are honest people doing a proper job within the rules, but you will always ind some that will not want to part with money for parking and end up on the side of the road,” he adds.
Burns says the ine collection company has had “some success” in extracting payments from overseas' operators, but has been hampered by some countries not allowing access to their vehicle register database for civil matters. The council pays a percentage for all recovered ines to the collection company.