Battle of the lay-bys in Rothwell as parked lorries block access

Located next to the junction of two of the UK’s busiest motorways, the south Leeds suburb of Rothwell can claim to be one of the country’s best connected places.

But while living within a stone’s throw of the M1 and M62 may have its advantages, locals say the town’s lay-bys are increasingly clogged up with HGVs and delivery vehicles using them for overnight stays.

Lorry drivers say they are stopping there because there aren’t enough dedicated facilities for them to use.

Yet residents claim they are struggling to access a graveyard and are finding litter and human waste because of the inconsiderate parking.

Café owner Josh Jones says HGV drivers regularly flout a two-hour parking restriction outside his business, which is in a lay-by close to J30 of the M62.

Armed forces veteran Mr Jones, 36, says he was once threatened with a knife when he politely asked a driver to move on, and that the area is riddled with litter and human waste.

“When I come over the brow of the hill to work each morning, the apprehension I get when I see lorries on either side makes me think, ‘Oh my God, what’s going to happen today’,” he says.

“Since I’ve opened the café in August 2023, incidents have ranged from verbally abusive ones to physical altercations.”

Mr Jones says that while the prospect of his business missing out on cash when turnover in the lay-by is low is a concern, his grievance is more related to the environment around him and the safety of other drivers in need of a pit stop being shut out.

Local people say there is little enforcement of the two-hour parking limit here, although Leeds City Council says it conducts regular patrols of the lay-by and has issued more than 175 parking notices there in the last year.

“A good number of drivers leave bags of faeces, bottles of urine and general rubbish,” Mr Jones says. “The council bins will be filled up.

“It would be OK if it was just one or two bags but the other side of the road can be heaving with it.

“It is more than me moaning about not getting an extra £50 today.”

Mr Jones, insists he is not “anti-HGV at all”, pointing out that most of his customers are truckers.

“There are fantastic lorry drivers who hate these kind of people,” he adds.

One HGV driver, Nathan, is just leaving Mr Jones’ cafe after grabbing a bite to eat.

He says a shortage of dedicated truck stops and the expense of using them means he is a regular lay-by user.

“There’s definitely not enough places to stop,” Nathan says. “We do need more.”

“Between 11:30 BST and 13:30 BST the turn-off for some service stations can be backed up right out onto the motorway with wagons.”

A short drive away is a lay-by outside the graveyard at St John the Evangelist, Oulton’s parish church, where mourners regularly go to pay their respects to loved ones.

But resident Martin Law says the lay-by is often full, making it “extremely difficult” for those wanting to leave a bunch of flowers.

Mr Law, the chair of the Oulton and Woodlesford Neighbourhood Forum, says: “There aren’t many alternatives in terms of walkable parking, particularly for those who can’t walk far. That’s the only spot available.

“There’s rubbish, bags of faeces there too and it’s not pleasant for anybody. It’s disrespectful to the church too.”

There is no time limit on parking outside the church, but the council says it has drawn up plans to ban HGV parking in the affected lay-by and hopes the new regulations will come into force this summer.

But 40-year-old driver Ionut, who has been parked in the lay-by for 15 hours when the BBC speaks to him, says this will simply push the problem onto residential streets.

“If you’re not at the nearest truck stop by 17:00 BST you can’t park there because it’s full,” he explains.

“It’s not pleasant for me sleeping here, next to traffic driving past. Sometimes people will stop next to you and wake you up playing loud music. Sometimes you wake up and someone’s taken all your diesel.

“But there’s nowhere else for me to go.”

Ionut, who has driven HGVs since he was 20, says he has his own bin in his lorry in which he puts his rubbish and condemns drivers who litter as “out of order”.

He is sympathetic to people who want use the space to visit the graveyard, but says he feels people in his industry are taken for granted.

“During the pandemic we were key workers, but now we are seen as a nuisance,” he says.

“People need to realise everything they purchase has been on a lorry. If we stop, then they will go to the store tomorrow and they won’t be able to buy bread or milk.”

An Amazon distribution centre is located nearby, with locals saying the lay-by hogging has become a problem since it was built just before the pandemic.

For its part, Amazon says its provides “extensive facilities for HGV drivers” which include free hot drinks, toilets, access to food and even a pool table at the site in question.

The company also says it has “very high standards for the service providers we work with and will investigate any issues.”

Liberal Democrat councillor for Rothwell, Stewart Golton, says the issue could be a growing one throughout the country because of the explosion in online shopping and the reliance on logistics.

“Even five years ago, no-one would have assumed the level that people are (now) ordering the goods they want remotely through a computer or their mobile phone,” Golton says.

“The companies that guarantee next day delivery actually have a huge amount of logistical movements with trucks and delivery vehicles.

“It needs responding to right now, because it’s affecting people.”

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) says there is a shortage of 11,000 parking spaces for HGV drivers across the country and is campaigning over the issue.

“There’s an urgent need for continued investment in roadside facilities, particularly in areas of high lorry parking demand and high freight crime rates,” Ashton Cull, from the RHA says.

“More safe and secure parking spaces need to be provided, and a unified standard strongly encouraged if not enforced.

“We’ve made some progress, but there’s a long way to go and there is much work ahead.”

The Department for Transport has been contacted for comment.