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Manston airport confirmed as post-Brexit lorry park

AFP Lorries queuing at DoverAFP
Delays at the Port of Dover mean lorries are forced to queue on the M20 motorway

Lorries will be parked at a disused airport in Kent the event of post-Brexit delays at the cross-Channel ports, the government has said.

The moves comes after MP Michael Gove warned queues of 7,000 trucks could clog up roads around ports.

A deal has been signed to use Manston as a lorry facility after the end of the transition period on 31 December, the Department for Transport said.

The M26 has been discounted as a lorry holding area, a spokeswoman confirmed.

The government has bought a 27-acre site near Ashford to provide a holding space for about 2,000 lorries.

It plans to deal with disruption at the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone include the implementation of a contraflow on the M20.

When Operation Brock is in place, one carriageway of the M20 in Kent is used only by HGVs heading to cross-Channel ports, with all other traffic restricted to a contraflow system on the opposite carriageway.

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