Resident relieved to hear truckies officially told to stop relieving themselves in public.

A LONDON Colney man isn’t exactly flushed with success but admits he’s glad local depots are taking his complaint about truck drivers defecating in public places seriously.

As reported recently in the Herts Advertiser, Ken Peak, spokesman for London Colney Village Concern, wanted relief from inconsiderate truck drivers parking overnight at the Riverside Industrial Estate near the River Colne and relieving themselves at a nearby riverside beauty spot.

He claimed: ”This very popular route is being disfigured by the lorry drivers who are using it as a regular latrine. We really do object to the use of pathways, bushes and trees as latrines or dumps for personal items. This offensive mess is left for walkers to see and avoid if they can.”

As a result of his complaint county councillor for the Colneys, Chris Brazier, wrote to St Albans district council environmental health service, urging it to resolve the situation.

Since then he has heard that several avenues have since been explored to stop the problem.

Senior environmental health officer Dawn Warren said that both courier firm DHL and transport company NFT, which operate depots on the site near where the defecation occurs, have been contacted.

NFT does not have truck drivers operating overnight and has its own yard with on-site toilet facilities which are used during the day.

DHL provides round-the-clock toilet facilities for truck drivers on the estate and has produced a leaflet on its rest facilities for drivers. It warns them against parking overnight on the roadside and says that defecating in open in the local area is prohibited. This information has been circulated to all companies supplying drivers, including those in eastern Europe.

Mrs Warren told Cllr Brazier that the firm was also actively encouraging staff to report any incidences of defecation in public, including details of the truck’s number plate to enable them to be tracked and notified of the incident.

The council is liaising with London Colney parish council about the issue and anti-social behaviour officers have also been informed.

Mr Peak said he was glad the council was starting to take the problem seriously but he was, “not satisfied that giving instructions [by pamphlet] to people is going to solve it.”

He added: “Even now we still find this mess. We need to prevent lorries who have no legitimate business to be there from entering the site. No one moves the truck drivers at night.”