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How life in rural Hoo has been blighted in the shadow of Amazon depot

When Amazon came to Hoo two years ago there was some hope they might at least bring some cash to the area – but lorry drivers spending pennies all over the place was not what villagers had in mind.

Locals have long felt the strain of problems with HGVs swamping the area, and this week there were signs they were beginning to crack when a toilet was placed on the Ratcliffe Highway in protest over drivers leaving excrement and bottles of urine by the road.

An Amazon lorry leaves the Hoo depot
An Amazon lorry leaves the Hoo depot

All of which might sound amusing enough - but it's less funny for those who feel they've been urinated on from a great height by the distribution giant over the last two years.

Marie Bennett lives literally in the shadow of the Amazon depot, whose walls tower over her home in Stoke Road - a home was an idyllic rural farm when she moved there in 2013.

Although she knew there were plans for the neighbouring industrial estate, she says she would never have moved if she'd known the scale of the problems coming her away.

And now she says she and other villagers are sick of Amazon drivers' unwanted gifts and that the company's warehouse is a blight on their community.

"When we first came it was lovely and quiet. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful," said Marie, 51. "First was the sheet piling for months and I had to get in touch with the builders of the warehouse to come and fill in and repaint the render on my house as the vibrations had cracked it in many places. Then when it was being erected I had lorries turning up at my door with the parts."

To rub salt into the wounds, Amazon had used the same postcode as her house - even though you cannot access the depot from Stoke Road, which meant drivers began knocking on her door at all hours for directions.

Even people scheduled to have interviews at the depot ended up at her doorstep.

And while that problem was partially resolved by signposting, the volume of lorries on the rural roads of Hoo is causing an increasing nightmare, and drivers have even crashed into Marie's property.

"The lorries are parking everywhere and have trashed all the verges," added Marie, "The farmer has had to plough the verges to stop them parking outside his farm as they are leaving all their waste behind and littering his crops. They are going to the toilet everywhere and throwing bottles of urine in the bushes along with their bags of rubbish. They have broken all the drains and verges and block the bridleway. They are driving down narrow country lanes and smashing down walls as they cant get through."

Although Amazon has built a LGV park for 35 vehicles, residents believe there are no washing or toilet facilities for the drivers; and Marie said it was time the company used some of its wealth to make life more bearable for both residents and drivers.

Lorries lined up on Hoo
Lorries lined up on Hoo

"This happens to be at the end of my field so I can see this from my bedroom window along with the other monstrosity of a building that has just gone up," she added. "The park is only for the trailers so the cab has to still park outside on a road somewhere and leave all their mess. It really has become the toilet of Kent. When you drive round to the parking site and Amazon,the roads are spotless and double yellow lines everywhere."

Marie said the lorries are also "incredibly dangerous" and had nearly been hit on a recent occasion.

And she added: "I've emailed them with photos I've taken recently of all the mess that the drivers are leaving by the road side, which is human faeces, all their toilet roll, bottles of urine and rubbish. Twice I've tried to email them and I've had no reply.

"Everyone's up in arms. It's just filthy around here. It really is the toilet of Kent."

Flooding on Marie Bennett's land, which she believes is caused by the nearby Amazon depot
Flooding on Marie Bennett's land, which she believes is caused by the nearby Amazon depot

If all that wasn't bad enough, Marie says the depot and surrounding hardstanding has made her land liable to flooding, and leaving her regularly surrounded by waterlogged fields.

And after a night of rain her land was again left on Friday morning looking like a bog at the foot of Amazon's walls.

Flooding on Marie Bennett's land, which she believes is caused by the nearby Amazon depot
Flooding on Marie Bennett's land, which she believes is caused by the nearby Amazon depot

Peninsula ward councillor Ron Sands said it was time Amazon took action.

"It's just got worse and it's getting worse in the run to Christmas," he added. "They're parking anywhere they can. People are fed up with the mess and the damage they're doing. There's human excrement scattered around, pavements are being broken - and that comes at the cost of the tax payer too."

"I think people are talking but it's just a long drawn out process and we don't know what the answer is. If we move them from the Ratcliffe Highway, where do we move them? I don't know if there's an alternative."

"It's just horrid. It's been two years and nothing has happened so I don't think it's one of their priorities.

"People around here and the farmers have just taken the brunt of it."

Nevertheless he assured residents there was mounting pressure from councillors on the international company.

His message to Amazon now is simply: "This is unacceptable - what are you going to do to stop it?"

An Amazon spokesman said: “Any disruption caused by drivers does not reflect the high standards we have for our carrier partners and their drivers. We regularly communicate with carrier partners to reinforce this and are continuing to progress further measures to address the matter, including the imminent opening of additional parking facilities in close proximity to our site.”

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