LORRY drivers across Britain staged a one-hour “take a break” stoppage today as part of their Trucked Off campaign against “appalling” working conditions and attacks on pay.

The protest came amid the HGV crisis, in which the government has responded to a shortage of 100,000 drivers by attempting to increase the hours they work.

The campaign, organised by the Unite union, said that the policy would “exhaust the present workforce and deter others from joining.

Trucked Off aims to encourage drivers to take the breaks to which they are legally entitled.

Drivers parked their vehicles en masse at motorway service areas to highlight their demand for “safety, decency and dignity to be restored to lorry driving in the UK.”

Unite chairman Tony Woodhouse, a former HGV driver, said: “HGV drivers are sick and tired of poor pay, no pensions and longer working hours. 

“Truck stops in this country are a disgrace and the fantasy salaries being reported are a myth.

“By taking their legal break, they will highlight that nothing is being done to address the dreadful employment conditions in a sector that’s at the heart of our economy.

“Skilled drivers have walked away from this industry and nobody will replace them unless and until safety, decency and dignity are restored to driving in this country.

“We look across the Channel and see drivers better paid and better treated, and we want that for drivers here. Unite will not stop until we have fixed this broken industry.”

An investigation by Unite revealed inadequate facilities for drivers at rest areas to be one of the worst problems.

One HGV driver, named only as Neil, said: "The biggest problem is the lack of decent facilities. I sleep in my cab four nights a week. 

“The facilities we’re expected to use are just disgusting – blocked toilets, not enough working showers. Some don’t even have hot water.

“At one place, there are just two toilets for 120 drivers. You can imagine the state of them.”

He said that he had found human excrement in one lorry park.

The union is calling for negotiations on pay and conditions to cover the whole sector, rather than individual employers, many of whom refuse to recognise trade unions and actively oppose workers’ organisation.

HGV driver and Unite shop steward Davy McCord described the situation as “cut-throat, unstable and lurching from crisis to crisis.”

He said: “The only people who benefit from the present chaos are the cowboys.”