The government is poised to announce new powers to crack down on lorries parking in laybys and residential streets.

Kent County Council is expected to trial the new powers to address the escalating problem of illegal lorry parking.

County transport chiefs have revealed they expect the Department for Transport to announce the introduction of new powers shortly.

It is likely to involve higher fines for offenders and greater powers to councils and police to move lorries on where they are parked unlawfully.

At the moment, fines can only be imposed on persistent offenders.

Cllr Matthew Balfour, Conservative cabinet member for transport, said: “There is a plan to stop fly-parking and to keep large HGVs stopping at inappropriate places.

"We have been working with the government and we hope that there will be an announcement.

"The DfT has been very positive and the law is going to be made so we can better deal with fly-parking.”

“There will be a test project to make sure that it works as soon as it possibly can. But if we are going to stop HGV parking we need to provide them with somewhere they can go.

"We have a list of sites we are looking at. This is not just a Kent problem. HGV drivers would prefer somewhere secure to stay.

"We are working hand-in-hand with the DfT to get it right and the transport minister is right behind us.”

The government’s official forecasts for lorry traffic predict a 22% increase in HGV movements between 2010 and 2040 across the UK road network.