Ashford Borough Council’s annual report on HGV clamping showed 725 vehicles were clamped across five locations in the borough between April 2025 and March 2026, continuing a downward trend since enforcement began in 2017.

A total of 725 heavy goods vehicles were clamped across five locations in the Ashford borough during the financial year 2025–26, according to an annual enforcement report considered by the Joint Transportation Board on 1 September 2026.

The report, prepared by Catherine Darlington, Parking Team Leader at Ashford Borough Council, set out the continuing operation of a zonal overnight HGV parking ban covering the A20 between Charing and Ashford, and several industrial and commercial areas including Orbital Park, Ashford Business Park, Sevington, and the Ellingham and Wotton Industrial Estates. The ban operates between 8:00pm and 7:00am.

Enforcement history and trend

The clamping scheme originated as an 18-month trial between October 2017 and April 2019, run jointly by Ashford Borough Council, Kent County Council and the Department for Transport. During the trial, 2,754 HGVs were clamped and a 61 per cent reduction in inappropriate HGV parking was recorded, with minimal displacement to neighbouring districts.

A permanent Traffic Regulation Order came into effect in September 2019. Enforcement figures since the current contractor, London Parking Solutions, took over show a continuing but gradually declining number of clampings: 990 vehicles were clamped between April 2023 and March 2024, falling to 875 between April 2024 and March 2025, and 725 in the most recent year.

The report stated that these figures “demonstrate the continuing effectiveness of the enforcement regime and the positive impact it has had in reducing inappropriate HGV parking across the borough.”

Operational details

London Parking Solutions was awarded a contract on 9 August 2023 following a procurement exercise. The report noted that using an external contractor allows enforcement to take place on varying nights, reducing predictable patterns, and has freed Ashford Borough Council’s own Civil Enforcement Officers to focus on daytime duties.

During 2025–26, nine appeals in total have been submitted against penalty charge notices issued to HGVs since the scheme began. Three were cancelled following the provision of supporting evidence by drivers; the remainder were rejected. No appeals have progressed to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

London Parking Solutions reported four incidents to police in which clamps were unlawfully removed and vehicles left without paying the release fee. No further action was taken in relation to those incidents.

A total of 97 vehicles were recorded by the contractor but were neither issued with a penalty charge notice nor clamped, as drivers left within one hour of arrival, in accordance with a permitted short break allowance.

Capacity and displacement

The report noted that Ashford Truck Stop continues to operate at or close to full capacity on most nights. Monitoring of potential displacement of HGV parking into other industrial estates and locations was said to show parking levels broadly consistent with those recorded before the trial began.

The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.

Sources

Top image: illustrative, computer-generated. Illustrative AI-generated image. This is not a photograph of any real location in Ashford or elsewhere.