Produced in Kent businesses help out truckers over Christmas

When the borders to Europe were closed to inbound traffic on December 23rd, hundreds of lorry drivers found themselves stranded in Kent with nothing to do but wait it out.

But the good people of Kent stepped up to help feed and water them, and even deliver a little festive spirit to them all.

On Christmas day, Biddenden Vineyards delivered 2000 bottles of apple juice to Stanford highways depot for lorry drivers. They were distributed by the Gurkhas that evening.

Realising that their normal speciality might be a little chilly given the circumstances, Simply Ice Cream took blankets and mince pies to truckers stranded near their home in Bonnington

Local wholesaler & food delivery company Foodari gave fresh, local, Kentish apples to all the drivers and also provided free fruit and vegetables to one of their customers: Hythe Imperial Hotel, to support their effort to create and deliver some lovely meals for the stranded men and women.

The team at Macknade wanted to provide provisions which included fresh fruit, pies, pastries and other treats for the HGV drivers unable to cross the border at Dover. Two Macknade vans packed full with produce from Macknade’s Faversham and Ashford stores delivered goods to the Ashford International Station on Christmas Eve where Southeastern and The Salvation Army worked tirelessly over the Christmas period to distribute food to the stranded drivers.

The Larder Catering Services worked with the Truckers from the 22 December right through to the 4th January, including Christmas Day, Boxing Day and even saw the new year in with them – making sure they all could get a good meal and a hot drink, and to try and keep their spirits up.

And last but by no means least, Archie from Archies Seaglass, who had seen first-hand how dire the situation was, took it upon herself to drive to Manston on Boxing Day with sandwiches, minced pies, cooked meat, olives, water, cheeses, chocolate, biscuits and even some small shots of gin cocktails! Thankfully for the drivers, there were very few left there at that point so she went to the effort of driving all the way to Dover docks and gave the bag of food to the Police and asked them to distribute where needed. Archie said ‘They were very touched indeed but I was a bit late, but I'm sure the treats were well appreciated!’