This battered car tells of the latest case of lorries plaguing a small estate.

A trucker got lost, drove into Aycliffe in Dover and his trailer smashed into the side of a Vauxhall Zafira, writing it off.

Residents are already troubled by noise and nuisance from HGVs waiting on the A20 when Dover TAP is in place. But they say problems have got worse since a new lorry park was recently opened nearby.

Drivers miss the turning for this, despite signs put up, and drift into the estate.

The parked Vauxhall Zafira was damaged last Wednesday night at St Patrick's Road.

Owner Maria Stoakes was indoors at the time and didn't hear the smash, several yards from her house, but a neighbour alerted her.

Mrs Stoakes, who works as a housekeeper in the Parkdean holiday park in St Margaret's-at-Cliffe, told KentOnline: "I came outside and saw the damage. The lorry had pushed my car 10 to 15ft along the road. It's now a write off and I haven't been able to get to work.

"The driver was probably looking for the lorry park."

A new lorry park, under the name VEA 2022 Ltd, was opened up the hill at South Military Road last autumn. But residents say drivers are misreading the signage and turning into Old Folkestone Road, which leads to Aycliffe.

The estate is a dead end and Mrs Stoakes believes the trucker looped back along the parallel St David's Avenue to get out. He turned into St Patrick's Road on the way out.

Resident Jes Parker told KentOnline: "This problem has got worse since the lorry park opened but there is a continual problem of lorries coming into the estate during Dover TAP - but not just then, also on other occasions at random.

"They particularly damage cars when the come around the estate's S-bend.

"When there are roadworks on the A20 they try to avoid that by coming into the estate not realising it's a dead end and have to find their way out again."

There are two signs showing the way to the truck stop.

The first is at the Western Heights roundabout on the A20. The second is on South Military Road next to the junction with Old Folkestone Road - but its arrows point up the steep hill to the site.

Aycliffe resident Gary Dodd said: "The road is totally unsuitable for HGVs and there is inadequate signage. It is that bad the estate is now getting lorries regularly onto it looking for this.

"I emailed our MP and local district councillors to raise my concerns in November.

"I predicted lorries would be coming onto the estate.

"Aycliffe residents are rightly fuming about what has happened."

The truck stop manage Emil Arshinev says the centre has been in place since October 1 last year.

"I don't know why lorry drivers are missing the site," he said. "The sign near Old Folkestone Road is part of a much larger one of one by two metres.

"Lorry drivers should certainly be able to find the site if they have sat nav."

Residents have previously complained of lorry drivers blasting their horns day and night when they are kept waiting by the traffic control system Dover TAP (Traffic Assessment Project).

This holds back trucks if their is congestion on the port roads - for example, due to strike action in France or stormy weather disrupting ferry schedules.

Mum-of-two Hayley Townsend, who had moved to the estate in 2019, told Kent Online in December 2020: "I didn't expect the beeping at 4 o'clock in the morning.

"I've got two kids under the age of six. It's a nightmare - they're constantly being woken up."

Resident Kerry-Ann Jones told us last April: "One of the drivers starts and the others join in and it is day and night."

At times like these, locals have also told of pollution by running engines, noise when they are revved and rubbish dumped by drivers.

Truckers can be held up for hours if there is severe disruption on port roads and, with no toilets available for them as they wait, they have left excrement and bottled urine behind.

These problems have gone on for years and Aycliffe, parallel to the A20 where the lorries come from, has had some kind of trouble from the road since it was constructed in the early 1990s.

This goes right back to chalk dust covering houses and cars during the building work.