News Beaney court


A MAIDSTONE man has been charged with one count of bur- glary. Amos Beaney (28,) of BowRoad


was charged on Thursday, March 14 2019 after an incident at a prop- erty in New House Lane, Canter- bury. Jewellery, cash and paperwork


was reported stolen. Mr Beaney has been released on


bail to appear at Margate Magis- trates’ Court on 18April.


Blaze death


A69-YEAR-OLD woman died in her bedas fire tore through her flat inQuarry Square lastDecember. The inquest was opened in


Maidstone into the death of dis- abled widow Judith Tucker. The full hearingwas due onMarch 19.


Ramraids up


THE number of ram raids across the county rose last year, including those in LenhamandHeadcorn. Therewere 14 smash and grabs,


mostly attempting to take cashma- chines, in the past year compared to two in 2014-15, say Kent Police.


downsmail.co.uk


Operation Brock ready for Brexit lorry chaos


THIS is how Operation Brock looks before it becomes opera- tional, as Britain prepares to offi- cially leave the EuropeanUnion. The photo shows the semi-per-


manent metal barrier separating whatwill be the contraflowsystem designed to keep traffic flowing. The London-bound hard shoul-


der is nowone of two lanes,while the other pairwill serve vehicles if the three-lane coast boundcarriage is needed to stack lorries. But critics areworriedthatBrock


is not robust enough to withstand any form of disruption, such as a crash or a broken-down vehicle. Residents along the M20 have


complainedthat thework to install £26m Brock has been disruptive, particularly for those living be- tween junctions eight and nine. Downs Mail revealed last sum-


mer that Brock would be in place by Brexit’s official date of March 29, although Highways England denied thiswas the case.


About 17,000 lorries cross the


Channel via the Port ofDover and the Channel Tunnel each day. After decades of wrangling, no


suitable site for a lorry park has been identified in Kent, so Opera- tion Stack remains the onlymeans of holding large volumes ofHGVs, although Manston Airport has been set aside. TheM26 is also ear- marked as a holding area. UK customs hold-ups, crashes,


roadworks, industrial action and theweather canall impact theUK’s ability to get freight to France. Few port observers believe the


problemwill be containedbetween Maidstone and the Channel ports.


Traffic couldspill onto theA20 and back roads, causing greatermisery to already jammed rural routes. Hollingbourne parish councillor


John Cobbett wrote: “Highways England says no facilities will be providedfor lorrydrivers stuck on theM20 and the arrangements for recovering vehicles andemergency access on the London-bound side, which will carry traffic in both di- rections, is unclear. “It is anticipated that any acci-


dents will cause traffic to be di- verted to theA20.” We approachedHighways Eng-


land for comment. The agency did not respond.


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Maidstone April 2019


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