A dedicated lorry park containing 7,000 trucks would need to be the size of 280 football pitches, architects believe.

Designers from London firm Fatkin have also predicted that the site would be the equivalent of four Bluewater shopping centres and 20 Dover Castles.

This comes after a leaked government report into a "reasonable worst-case scenario" warned queues of 7,000 lorries could form in Kent following Brexit.

A spokesman from Fatkin said: "It turns out that 7000 lorries takes up a fair bit of room.

"If they all were queued in a single-file row, they would go all the way up the M20 and halfway back again. This doesn’t leave much room for other traffic.

"If 7,000 lorries were to be parked at a dedicated site, they would need an area of land the size of: 280 Wembley football pitches, or four Bluewater shopping centres or 20 Dover Castles."

In a bid to stop the roads from grinding to a halt, it was revealed this week that drivers will need to register for "Kent Access Permits" in order to enter the Garden of England.

The move - which will create a de facto border in the South East - will also see police checking motorists for the documentation and using number plate recognition to enforce the plan.

But such a process could cause even more holds ups as Mr Gove revealed in an address to Parliament on Wednesday that many businesses "are not prepared".

He told MPs: "The scenario builds on an estimate that only 50% to 70% of large businesses and just 20% to 40% of small and medium-size enterprises would be ready for the strict application of new EU requirements.

“In those circumstances that could mean between only 30% and 60% of laden HGVs would arrive at the border with the necessary formalities completed for the goods on board.

“They’d therefore be turned back by the French border authorities, clogging the Dover to Calais crossing.”

Ministers warn of 7,000-strong queues on Kent's roads once Brexit transition period ends - KMTV

A website used to register vehicles will go live "in the coming weeks" but 70% of firms aren't ready, he claimed, and with 100 days left until the end of the transition period many think it will be delayed.

As previously reported a huge lorry park is being built at Ashford while the county's biggest Covid-19 testing centre was recently closed to make way for a possible customs check point.

Ashford MP Damian Green asked Mr Gove: "The prospect of 7,000 lorries queueing will send a chill through my constituents as they know what will happen.

"Can you assure them that the smart freight system required to ensure smooth running of traffic will be up and running by January?"

Mr Gove responded "we'll do our very best to ensure (your constituents) are not inconvenienced."

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