The government has pledged to clamp down on illegal HGV parking following a campaign led by a Kent MP.

Following calls from Faversham and Mid-Kent representative Helen Whately, Roads Minister John Hayes is conducting a national survey to determine where more parking spaces are needed.

He has also pledged to make sure lorry facilities are planned into new Highways England infrastructure projects.

The promise came at a meeting between Mrs Whately, representatives of the haulage industry, Kent County Council (KCC) and other local authority members.

The MP said: “Illegal lorry parking is a blight on Kent. It’s not just the inconvenience and litter, fly-parking is dangerous too.

“It’s dangerous for other drivers who have to avoid lorries sticking out into the roads and for the police who have to walk along the hard-shoulder of the motorway to move them along. Along with more parking spaces, there need to be clear rules and penalties so drivers know they have to park in lorry parks, not on the roadside.

“Ultimately I want to see a change in the law so fly-parking is completely banned.”

It comes after both Mrs Whately and Maidstone and the Weald MP Helen Grant raised rogue HGV parking issues at a meeting in Westminster in September.

They said it is a particular problem in the Maidstone area.

Last year 74-year-old Susan Mellor from the town died when her car crashed into a lorry parked on the hard shoulder of the M20 near Detling, for which driver Jaroslav Horvath will stand trial in March next year.

The crackdown also comes four weeks after the death of teenage motorcyclist Jack Mander who crashed into a parked lorry on the Medway City Estate in Strood. The driver of the vehicle was arrested and bailed although there is nothing so far to suggest he had been parked illegally or dangerously. The estate is, however, heavily used by lorry drivers to park overnight, leading to safety concerns.

Police and Highways England have now dealt with more than 2,700 unsafe and illegally parked HGVs on the county’s roads since December.

KCC is already working on identifying where more lorry parking spaces are needed in the county.

Matthew Balfour, the council’s cabinet member for environment and transport, added: “The county has suffered from issues resulting from inconsiderate HGV parking for many years and increasing numbers of lorries is only making the situation worse.

“We are determined to do something about it.”