Lorry Driver Facilities in focus

Senior Public Affairs Lead, Ashton Cull, spoke to key decision makers last week at the Future of Lorry Driver Facilities roundtable hosted by Transport Focus.

The event, inspired by our work on the Task and Finish Group that sought to identify what industry experts can do to tackle the poor quality and quantity of safe and secure truck parking spaces in the UK, clearly focussed on how that work could be moved forward.

Ashton said: “We have made progress in improving facilities for drivers, but there is still a long way to go and there is much work ahead.

Better consideration of the needs of road freight at all levels of policy making is needed...

More spaces need to be built, and a unified standard strongly encouraged if not enforced.”

Our facilities campaign continues.

In the last two years, the RHA has successfully lobbied for:

• £100m combined government/industry investment for truck parking improvements.
• A Government and Industry Taskforce to address issues limiting the construction of new truck parking facilities.
• A call for evidence looking at the impact of current planning policy on freight and logistics.

Our key asks on driver facilities are:

• Reform of planning policies and the National Planning Policy Framework to make it easier to get truck parking applications approved.
• Ensure lorry parking is embedded in all major National Highways building works, particularly Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects and those that form part of the Road Investment Strategy
• Development of National Freight Network with truck parking facilities at its core
• More priority on tackling freight crime, including its recognition as an organised criminal activity and direct government support for NaVCIS.