A LORRY driver has criticised Bracknell Forest Council for not providing a "safe place" for trucks to take breaks.

Last month the News reported that residents in Jennett's Park were fed up with lorries creating an "eyesore" by parking on the estate overnight and leaving their rubbish behind - in spite of a sign which reads 'no HGV parking'.

But Simon Jones, who owns Bracknell-based company ATR Removals, has argued the reason lorry drivers stop in residential areas is because they have nowhere else to park up and the town is a "main cut-through" from the M25 to the M4.

He explained that part of the problem is that Bracknell used to have a lorry park in Downmill Lane but the space is no longer available, and added: "We drive all around the country and everywhere has lorry parks, it's almost like the council here are anti-trucks!"

Roger Cook, transport development manager at the council, said Bracknell Forest had a "relatively small part" of the highway network which is why it has "no formal lorry park" and added: "This is something which should be taken into account by transport operators in planning routes for their lorries."

For more on this story, pick up a copy of the Bracknell News - out now.