Anything the French can do, Britain 'can definitely do better', says minister

Anything the French can do, Britain “can definitely do better”, a minister declared at Westminster.

The claim was made in Parliament by Tory frontbencher Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen as she was pressed over the facilities available to lorry drivers on the other side of the Channel.

Poor provision in the UK and a lack of access to toilets, showers and refreshments have been blamed for contributing to the shortage of hauliers and fuelling the supply chain problems.

In the Budget in October, the Treasury announced £32.5 million in funding to improve lorry parks.

Tackling the Government in the House of Lords over HGV provision, Labour peer Lord Foulkes of Cumnock said: “Has the minister ever been to France? Because in France they don’t just have service areas, they have areas where heavy goods vehicles can stop, they can park, they have toilets, they can wash and they are all the way down every motorway and every main road.

“If the French can do it, why can’t we?”

Responding at the despatch box, and to cheers from the Tory benches behind her, Lady Chisholm said: “Anything the French we can do, we can definitely do better.”

She added: “This is very important and it’s vital. If we don’t do this we are not going to get the drivers to drive our HGV lorries and we are really working on this.”

She added: “It can be done because there’s one in Kent, which has just opened.”

Sparking cries of “one”, she added: “I know, we need to go right across the country and we will do.”

Raising the issue in the upper chamber, Conservative former MEP, Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate said: “In the last 18 months we have lost 55,000 domestic United Kingdom HGV drivers. There are many reasons given for this, but one of the reasons is the lack of facilities of a proper nature on the routes that they cover.”

But pointing to the funding made available by the Government, he questioned whether it was enough given the “mammoth shortage” of HGV parking spaces.

Lady Chisholm said: “We are committed to looking at both established and new approaches to increase the provision for improved overnight lorry parking in England, as well developing innovative approaches to provide more capacity.”