The Traffic Assessment Phase (TAP) that stops lorries clogging up Dover town has been implemented 137 times since last April.

That figure comes from Conservative councillor Nigel Collor, who is fighting for it to remain in place on the A20 indefinitely.

It is a system predominantly used by the Port of Dover, signalled by traffic lights to stop the trucks at the Western Heights if there is no room to accommodate them within the Eastern Docks.

The 40mph speed limit, which is monitored by cameras, eases the flow of traffic through the town and prevents major junctions from becoming blocked.

Cllr Collor said: “Pre-TAP, Dover used to suffer from queues of trucks stretching back from the docks entrance to Samphire Hoe usually around three to four evenings a week. During adverse weather it was far worse.

“They used to block accesses to business and residential properties, junctions, roundabouts and pedestrian crossings, making the A20 – which through Dover is also a local road – extremely dangerous. A fatal crash happened just last weekend.”

It is feared that if a lorry park option on the M20 is built at Stanford West, the TAP scheme could be dropped and the traffic controlled from some 11 miles away.

Cllr Collor said this would not work.

“It needs to be taken into account that this is not the only route into Dover that trucks find,” he added.

“They use the A2, the A256, the A258, the B2011 as well as minor roads in the town, often causing utter chaos.

“In the absence of TAP, our problems will become your tomorrow.”

'In the absence of TAP, our problems will become your tomorrow.' Cllr Collor

The Castle ward councillor suggested that the way forward was for the Stack lorry park to complement the TAP system.

He confirmed that any teething problems in the nine-month-old system were being sorted.

He said: “We are in discussions with the Port of Dover, Kent Police, Highways England and others to iron out some of the issues associated with TAP that require attention.

“Possibly, the main issue here is the six miles of 40mph speed limit.”

If it is fully implemented, it is understood that Highways England will make the stretch from the Roundhill Tunnels in Folkestone a variable speed-limit zone.

The Mercury reported in December the results from a Freedom of Information request revealing that 1,700 foreign truckers were escaping speeding fines on the A20.