More than 600 lorry drivers have been fined for parking illegally overnight in Medway.

The council launched a crackdown towards the end of last year to combat truckers who flout road restrictions, with a focus on Gillingham Business Park.

Heavy goods vehicles weighing more than five tonnes are prohibited from parking on the industrial estate between 9pm and 7am.

Signs went up in October but after numerous complaints from residents about foreign drivers, large temporary signs were placed around the business estate in four different languages. The council also stepped up patrols.

It has led to hundreds of drivers being fined for parking overnight.

Between November 1, and February 13, 601 HGV drivers have been given fixed penalty notices, which works out at about six a day.

Of these, 442 were in Ambley Road – the main route through the estate past the ice rink and household waste site, 56 in Bailey Drive which runs past Lloyds and the Volkswagen dealership and 103 in Grosvenor Road, off Will Adams Way.

Driving instructor Geoff Watkins said he is pleased they are cracking down on illegal parking on the estate.

He, like many other instructors, uses the roads around the site for lessons so learners can practice on roundabouts.

He added: “The lorry drivers are a nuisance. There was a real problem last year, with the business park being chock-a-block 24 hours a day.

"It seemed to become a problem overnight.

“They park near junctions and make the roads very narrow.

"It makes it difficult to navigate around the estate and dangerous at times. It is predominately foreign HGVs.

“The situation did improve a lot for a while at the end of last year, but it seems to becoming a problem again.”

He added: “One of the problems is the litter the lorry drivers produce.

"There is a huge amount of discarded rubbish and bottles of suspicious looking yellow liquid.”

The warning signs – in French, German, Polish and Spanish – were also placed in Deanwood Drive, Rainham. The boards remain in place at both locations.

Medway’s action follows that taken by police and Highways England against lorries which are illegal and unsafely parked.

Officers have been issuing fines at locations including the M2 Services at Farthing Corner, the A2 near Cobham and the M20 between junction nine and Dover.

Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to find a solution to the problem of illegal lorry parking in Kent.

A number of sites around the county have been earmarked for a potential lorry park but transport bosses say they cannot be developed until ministers agree to a change in the law to make it unlawful for HGVs to park in laybys and residential roads.