Frustrated residents say ‘its a joke’ no truckers have been fined for blasting their horns despite a new quiet zone being enforced near their homes.

Over the last month, a stretch of the A20 has been designated a part-time quiet zone to stop people in Aycliffe being woken up by lorry drivers held up by Dover TAP.

Residents on the estate say the zone has not made any difference, and the sound of constant horns is still keeping them up at night.

But Kent Police admit none have had the £60 penalty slapped on them.

The force says offenders can be given fair warning first and officers have not so far had to resort to a penalty.

Temporary Ch Supt Simon Alland said: “Kent Police is supportive of attempts by National Highways to improve noise pollution on the A20 near Aycliffe by introducing a quiet zone whilst the Dover TAP is in place.

“Any officer who witnesses a lorry driver sounding their horn when the quiet zone is in effect will respond in a proportionate manner.

“They have the option of issuing a fixed penalty notice if necessary, for example if the driver refuses to engage or change their behaviour.

“It has so far not been necessary to issue any fines for this reason.”

But Dover District Council Cllr Edward Biggs (Lab), for Town and Castle ward, which Aycliffe falls under, said the introduction of the ban was “a completely fruitless exercise.”

He added: “In real terms, the traffic needs moving back because this quiet zone has been impossible to enforce.

“I've heard back from police who said how are they supposed to tell who’s hooting their horn?

“It was never going to be effective and fundamentally, the lorries shouldn't be there.

“It’s frustrating for us as a district council because we’re not responsible for the highways but we are with the residents, we want to find a solution.”

National Highways on July 17 that the quiet zone would be operation between 11.30pm to 7am when Dover TAP is on.

This was timed for when lorry drivers were more likely to be held up by the traffic control system Dover TAP (Traffic Assessment Project) because of the mass of summer holiday vehicles heading for the port.

Aycliffe resident Ray Williams says despite the new rules, blasting horns are still blighting the estate, especially at night.

“The signs for the new zone don’t start where they are supposed to,” he explained.

“When they sound the horn it travels because it’s a valley.

“It's annoying for everybody because we have got kids going back to school next week and if these horns keep going, kids are going to be going without sleep.

“The fact no fines have been handed out is a joke.

“I’m very angry because I said form the beginning it needs to be policed to work.”

The quiet zone, a trial scheme, stretches from the Court Wood roundabout near Capel-le-Ferne, to the Western Heights roundabout.

That leads to the only entrance road to the small community of Aycliffe.

Signs along that way warn of the restriction.

But resident Nicola Bushell says the signage is not as affective as it should be.

She said: “When I found out no fines had been dished out, I laughed because I knew it would happen.

“A lot of the drivers can’t read the English signs anyway so they won’t understand what it means.

“With the amount of time this has been going on, I think they did this just to find a way to shut Aycliffe up.

“How can they tell which driver is doing it?

“The police are on the roundabout, they're not on the A20 because it’s not safe, so how can they determine which lorry driver is doing which horn and what time?

“Drivers fall asleep when they are waiting for so long, then in order to wake them up those behind sound their horn and when one goes off, they all go.

“It has been going on for 20-plus years and people higher up need to listen.

“When it's on the news, it gets spoken about briefly but then you hear nothing.

“They should park the trucks up in Sevington in Ashford and bring them through so many at a time.”

Dover TAP controls the flow of HGVs into the port when roads towards it start to get clogged up.

But MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke said it should have been scrapped a long time ago.

She added: “Like residents of Aycliffe, I was very doubtful about National Highways’ quiet zone idea. It’s clearly not going to work if Kent Police don’t enforce it.

“I’m supporting residents in their campaign for the TAP system at Aycliffe to be scrapped altogether - and moved back to the Courtwood junction away from Dover town.

“TAP was supposed to be a temporary fix and it shouldn’t become a permanent fixture.”