Kent MPs are calling for the government to crack down on illegal lorry parking on hard shoulders.

Helen Grant and Helen Whately have been speaking in Westminster Hall about HGV fly-parking, which they say is a particular problem in the Maidstone area.

MP for Faversham and Mid-Kent, Mrs Whately, called a House of Commons debate, in which she urged the Department for Transport to take action over HGVs parking in inappropriate places.

She also asked Roads Minister John Hayes to make the new lorry area planned for Stanford West available for overnight parking – not just when Operation Stack is in force.

She said: "The parking of lorries outside of proper parking areas is a growing and long-term problem in my constituency and across Kent.

"I hope that by calling this debate I will push the issue up the ministers issue.

"The nub of the problem is that there are simply not enough places for lorry drivers to park in Kent. Lorries stop where they can and fill the lay-bys of major roads, park on the hard shoulders of slip-roads, on the verges of country roads and housing estates.

"The M20 is the major route to the channel carrying thousands of lorries everyday and in my constituency junctions seven to eight are particularity blackspots."

"Fly parking is not only a nuisance but is also dangerous, last year tragically as 74-year-old woman from Maidstone called Susan Mellor died when her car crashed into a lorry on the hard shoulder of the M20."

The MP added she's been working with Kent Police on the matter.

Kent Police and Highways England have now dealt with more than 2,200 unsafe and illegally parked HGVs from the county’s roads since December.

Officers from the two agencies have been actively targeting lorries parked on the hard shoulder and motorway slip roads to tackle antisocial and illegal behaviour by long-distance drivers.

Around 11,000 lorries pass through Dover everyday to cross the channel.

Maidstone and the Weald MP, Helen Grant said she too had received a number of complaints from constituents about lorries parked on hard shoulders.

She said: "We need more parking controls and more overnight parking facilities."

As a result of the debate, the roads minister has committed to taking a “fresh look” at freight parking, considering enforcement as well as the availability of parking spaces.