To wonder if anyone is providing food and extra sleeping bags etc to the lorry drivers in Kent

[AtlasPine]

It must be cold and miserable - 1,500 of them sleeping in their lorries with no idea when they will be on their way again. Some will be British lorries and some European I’m guessing.

Does anyone know if they are accessing hot food? What happens when their batteries go low and they can’t warm their cabs?

The situation for the lorry drivers is clearly not good, especially with the lack of facilities, weather and uncertainty about when they will get home or being paid.

In France, most lorries above 7.5 tonnes are banned from the motorway and road network from 10pm Saturday to 10pm Sunday (and all weekend during summer holidays). The long distance drivers are used to this and you see them parked up at the services (many with no shop etc, just toilets and showers) on Sundays. Exactly like in the picture posted above by @RufustheSniggeringReindeer they carry some food, water, camping stoves and are used to having to sit in a parking for 24/48 hours.

So generally they have some equipment to be prepared with being parked up for a bit. I hope they are able to get food, water or whatever they need at the moment.

I would be bloody furious if my President /PM closed the border with no notice and stopped me getting home
The drivers need to remember this
Kent has set up testing centres, they are providing what they can. The roads are heaving with lorries. Its really hard for the locals too
Don't believe everything you read

Piss off with your 'Kent' judgementalism! A minority does not mean the whole county is racist!!

That reply was for Newgirls

It’s horrible
In addition to the discomfort they must be so stressed and worried

Our Church did Soup runs in Ashford last night, over 80 litres of hot soup for about 35 truckers in various laybyes. They loved it. Two of them also needed medicine (from the 24 hr chemist) and one had a swollen eye (so bad it was almost shut) so was taken to A and E by our Pastor. It’s a drop in the ocean but I’m told it was greatly appreciated. One driver was in tears as his wife is due a baby on the 28th Dec. He should have been home in Italy by Monday.

You can donate to Khalsa Aid
www.khalsaaid.org/donate here; they are the Sikh charity referred to upthread who seem to be coordinating efforts from the Sikh community
twitter.com/Khalsa_Aid/status/1341393418291998723

Lovely to hear your church is working hard to help too maddiemookins16mum, thank you.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, feel so sorry for them. It’s lovely that charities are helping but what are the government doing? Is there not some duty of care towards people who are stuck here through no fault of their own? Ok portable toilets may have a Covid risk but people still need to shit! Where are they going to do it? There must be some solution. Maybe handing out buckets and liners and providing a facility for dumping of waste in one place? I don’t know but something! Setting up of catering trucks or tents. When I watched the news last night they said the drivers were handed a cereal bar on Monday!! Shocking. I thought the government said they were prepared for this type of thing because of Brexit? Obviously their idea of “prepared” didn’t include any sort of care to the human beings who drive these trucks!

I half expected Priti to be storming around the lorries, dressed in camo, Hessa style this morning.
Let's hope they all get home or accommodated if needed.

Khalsa aid and Salvation Army are active in supporting the drivers

Also just seen @maddiemookins16mum post about her church supporting too

@maddiemookins16mum Tue 22-Dec-20 13:42:34
We’re in Ashford, Kent. Our Church has signed us up to make as much hot soup as possible in our homes and have dropped off large flasks for us to fill for the drivers stranded in lay bys around here (saw lots this morning on the way to the Farm shop at 8am). I’m on my second batch of Lentil and Bacon which is being collected from my doorstep at 7pm tonight. I should manage about 5 litres.*

That is a lovely gesture but possibly leave out the bacon because Muslim and vegetarian people cant have it. Just a thought?

Our Sikh community in Coventry have travelled down with food. The government should be ashamed of themselves.

Agree the government should be ashamed. They should mobilise the army to help these poor people.

Fucks me right off that charities have to step in in situations like this. I know the government have a lot on right now, but the potential for this sort of situation was coming up next week, and they've known about that for years.

There should have been a government provided response process in place to provide for these people in this situation through no fault of their own. Just crap.

Fucks me right off that charities have to step in in situations like this. To be fair we are set up for it. OK, that's because we have had to do it before, many times on various scales. But we can repsond much more rapidly as we already exist, have distribution lines etc.

And for those mentioning the contents of soup. We always send out vegetarian soups so as to cater for the maximum number of people. Most charities that do this have experience, help from nutritionists and a good idea of what goes down well. Muslims and vegetarians won't go hungry whilst watching others eat a hot meal. Honest

The Sikh community has provided 800 hot meals.

Our government should hang their heads in shame. Whether this is Macron worried about a variant of a virus which has started in Kent and the South East so is 'saving his country' (if only Boris had been so fast to shut borders in the early part of the year...) or whether he's having a Brexit hissy fit doesn't matter.

Johnson and his inept cronies know that Operation Stack has happened every year (more than once a year usually) in Kent. We go past queues of lorries at various times of year. So, with no deal coming our way, Johnson has known for ages that this could be a problem. He's supposedly got a lorry park but didn't think to sort things out at Dover, no toilets, no places to eat, nothing. I think he and the transport minister could join together and go down there on Christmas day to see the chaos he's caused.

@CottonSock

Agree the government should be ashamed. They should mobilise the army to help these poor people.

They could, but the local army camp is now a holding centre for migrants so there would be nowhere for them to stay

@ExclamationPerfume

Our Sikh community in Coventry have travelled down with food. The government should be ashamed of themselves.

You’re right. Our ratio of soups was roughly 3/4 veggie and 1/4 included meat (I added bacon to my lentil and another lady did Halal chicken and veg).The rest was pure vegetable and Leek/potato I’m told.

Sorry my last post was for @OrraBoralis 😊