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A council in North Yorkshire is stepping up enforcement to stop HGVs parking overnight on an industrial estate, with companies as well as drivers warned they risk being fined.

Hambleton District Council said its Public Space Protection Order on the Leeming Bar Industrial Estate, introduced last year, had led to a reduction in both lorries parking up and “incidents of anti-social behaviour”.

In June 2019, 269 educational leaflets were issued to drivers and this had fallen to 170 by October.

However, it also said numbers were beginning to increase again and so the order is to be tightened up with £100 fixed penalty notices issued to repeat offenders.

In a report, the council said: “The council’s approach to enforcement of the Leeming Bar Public Space Protection Order will be a staged approach with warnings being issued where the Order has been breached without reasonable excuse before a Fixed Penalty Notice is issued although this may be not always the case, particularly for repeat infringements.

“The owners of the vehicles/goods will be approached as well as the drivers.”

The council said it recognised there was a national shortage of secure parking sites, but that it believed some drivers were choosing to park on the industrial estate rather than make use of nearby sites such as Exelby Services.

Rob Exelby, operations director at Exelby, told motortransport.co.uk its truck park is full or almost full Monday to Thursday most weeks, but he added: “I believe Leeming Motel usually has spaces spare.

“We’re expecting to begin construction on an extension of our existing truck park which will add a further 45 spaces which we hope to have complete by summer this year,” he said.

“We hope that will help alleviate some of the situation but we also understand that a small minority drivers do prefer to park outside secure parking locations regardless to save on parking fees.”

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