operation stack

nth_london_addick

Wtf it just took 9 hrs to get across from France to the UK, it took 5 on Sunday to get across to France, the euro tunnel seems absolutely ballsed up and the ferry aont much better, anyone intended to be on it before Monday good luck

I pray it's back to normal Monday night as I don't want to do that again

Anyone meant to be heading down the m20 it's horrendous

Stu_of_Kunming

Don't OB get any special treatment? You should complain.

guinnessaddick

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Don't OB get any special treatment? You should complain.

Under tarpaulin cover.

nth_london_addick

Lol I wish, I feel sorry for any bstd stuck.in that it looks like it will take days to clear

smiffyboy

What's caused all that NLA?

CAFCBourne

It grown overnight they made some headway yesterday pm but this morning it seems back further than yesterday morning

ME14addick

Mid Kent has been gridlocked for the past few days due to Operation Stack. This madness must stop and there is an e-petition to the Governemnt to do something about this. epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/74083

All routes between Medway and Maidstone were at a standstill yesterday morning and it took me 40 minutes to drive the very short distance between my home just outside Hempstead and my office outside Maidstone. I'm lucky as I only have to use country roads to get to work, but they were still at a standstill. One of my colleague took 1hr 45minutes to get from Rainham to Maidstone.

It is crazy to gridlock Medway and Maidstone every time Operation Stack is implemented; something needs to be done to stop this part of Kent being disrupted every time there is a problem with Channel crossings.

Daggs

I had the opportunity (unfortunately) to see a short length of 'operation stack' parked up near Maidstone.
I am astounded at how many huge lorries are traversing the roads of England.
I seem to recall, when the discussions about building the Channel tunnel were ongoing. Some wanted freight trains to run through the tunnels. I think they were right !!

AFKABartram

You were lucky @ME14addick‌ a girl I know was driving back from Sidcup after school Wednesday with her two kids, they got back to Ashford at 1.30am.

Ridiculous

JohnBoyUK

Feel desperately sorry for my two sets of friends that live in Ashford. A regular 20 min car journey has been taking 2hrs plus. They've resorted to walking everywhere.

Think I'll be giving the Outlet Centre a miss at the weekend!

Ross

I live in Ashford but work in Maidstone. For some reason the A20 isn't as bad as it should be at the times when I am commuting to and from work. A bit busier than usual, but nowhere near the volume of traffic that regularly comes down the M20 at 5pm.

Maidstone has been pretty gridlocked as a result of it, but luckily I don't go anywhere near the main gridlock, plus I know a few back roads around the houses to get to work.

Manston airport is sitting there unused. Think how many lorries they could park up on the runway there.

JollyRobin

Out of the loop here, what is Operation Stack?

cafcfan

JollyRobin said:

Out of the loop here, what is Operation Stack?

Basically, when there are problems with either the Ferries or the Channel Tunnel, the M20 is used as a giant lorry park, creating 20 mile traffic jams.

North Lower Neil

Has messed up my journey to work all week, but must admit I'm very glad not to be a lorry driver this week!

DaveMehmet

The local dogging sites must be rammo.

DaveMehmet

smiffyboy said:

What's caused all that NLA?

NLA's fleet of trucks bringing gear back from the continent.

Addickted

Drove back to Maidstone this morning. For the first time I'd ever seen, there were lorries stacked back to the Aylesford turn-off (Junc 5?)

80% of them were from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic and Poland. Are these hauliers just under cutting other European hauliers, or is there a significant increase in demand for goulash, pilsner and skodas?

Its_Hamer_Time

When is it due to end? Or do they not have a time limit on this kind of thing? Was going to visit the Ashford Outlet next week

nth_london_addick

There was a fire in there last week and according to the security in France they soaked it with thousands of gallons of water and it screwed the electrics, so it's been running on 1 tunnel, a train then got stuck in that one yesterday causing madness absolutely madness

_nam11

Bloody eastern Europeans

Addickted said:

Drove back to Maidstone this morning. For the first time I'd ever seen, there were lorries stacked back to the Aylesford turn-off (Junc 5?)

80% of them were from Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Czech Republic and Poland. Are these hauliers just under cutting other European hauliers, or is there a significant increase in demand for goulash, pilsner and skodas?

Flipping Eastern Europeans, coming over here, taking all our space on the motorways

golfaddick

I agree that's its madness. Here we are in the 21st century and the only answer to the ferries/tunnel not working is to use a motorway as a car park. Utterly stupid & must be another way. As someone posted earlier why not use Manston or enlarge the services at J8 on the M20 and park the lorries there instead of mucking up the lives of everyone else.

ME14addick

A permanent lorry park would be a good idea. When Operation Stack isn't in force it could be used as a lorry park where drivers could have their rest breaks with proper facilities. Far better than parking in a lay-by or business estates across the county as they do now.

I don't know why they have to use the stretch between junctions 8 & 9 for operation stack as this just grid locks Maidstone and Medway. Until a lorry park is built surely it would be better to use junctions 10 to 11, then only the eastern part of the county would be affected.

Fiiish

Another suggestion: if the lorry park at the port is full or reaching capacity, use matrix signs on the motorway to warn lorries to turn back. Any lorries that fail to heed the warning should be given massive fines for obstruction. Lorry companies using the port should have contigency plans in place of where to park lorries if they cannot reach the port.

sam3110

Works about as well as operation riverside and operation ewood then

nth_london_addick

We have had to just pay double the price to go via harwich in to hook of Holland and then drive to belguim as it is predicted to not be cleared until weds

Macronate

nth london addick said:

We have had to just pay double the price to go via harwich in to hook of Holland and then drive to belguim as it is predicted to not be cleared until weds

diamond smuggling?

Slater will nick you.

ForeverAddickted

ME14addick said:

A permanent lorry park would be a good idea. When Operation Stack isn't in force it could be used as a lorry park where drivers could have their rest breaks with proper facilities. Far better than parking in a lay-by or business estates across the county as they do now.

Trouble is there is a Service Station just outside Folkestone designed for this...

They do need to design a huge parked up area where the Lorries can go though rather than sitting on the M20 - Maybe have a few dotted around the country so Kent isnt the sole place where these lorries are parked and can be diverted to the different locations to ease congestion

nth_london_addick

You couldn't ever have a space big enough to take 20 miles of parked lorries

ForeverAddickted

nth london addick said:

You couldn't ever have a space big enough to take 20 miles of parked lorries

Could always put the canals back to use again...

guinnessaddick

Perhaps they can collect the toll chagre from the drivers who haven't paid to cross the dartford crossing.

buckshee

The knock on is ridiculous as well. It means people are advised to use the A2/M2 so getting off the M25 at that junction is murder.

It's quite unbelievable that there isn't a car park for these eventualities.