Watched the I player the other day and was laughing my socks of at the poor polish driver having been caught parked on the hard shoulder how he put on a big act saying he no understand but the police where good having got an interpreter over the radio to explain that he’s been nick 30 quid funny old thing he understood English after he paid so why do you still see them parked on the hard shoulder when the traffic slows I even saw two warbs parked up under a bridge curtains closed fast asleep on the 25 on Monday night it’s beyond belief it’s seems they just don’t care
UK is a playground for non-UK trucks.
The problem is that Police in mainland Europe levy enormous fines on drivers who have even the smallest infringement and so foreign drivers do anything to avoid picking one up in case it ends up costing them thousands of euros in Germany three weeks later.
That is 100% correct, some times i would run at night to beat all the hassle of getting a tug in the day, how can a poor eastern euro driver afford these mega buck fines? 
Harry Monk:
The problem is that Police in mainland Europe levy enormous fines on drivers who have even the smallest infringement and so foreign drivers do anything to avoid picking one up in case it ends up costing them thousands of euros in Germany three weeks later.
I would also say that another problem is lack of small parkings in UK, that are normal thing everywhere else. Here you have big MSA every 20 miles or so, and sometimes it takes several minutes to get there through all the traffic lights and find a parking space (my record is 40 minutes stop for a pee on that one in Stansted). This is also why so many car drivers stop on the HS to pee on the grass…
In France they have free aire de repos or rest areas every 20 0r 30 miles on the toll roads and other major routes, these are set back near woods or a forest away from the traffic noise, and in a nice area and view.
In Southern France they have an open air shower which jets out a very fine mist to cool you down in the heat of the summer, it goes down well with families on a long car journery.
The UK government have shelved the idea of rest areas that would be free parking, you can ask them why they have done that, more likely to do with anti-truck nimby`ism that is growing strong in the UK. 
Everything about the parking situation is pathetic, especially when coupled together with the rigid tacho laws that dont represent real life on the road. There is absolutely nothing funny about any driver, wether he be British, Polish or whatever else being stuck on the hard shoulder or a slip road because he’s too afraid to move due to his tacho. It could happen to any one of us and while most dont care as they never leave the UK, going 15 minutes over your time could land you in much more trouble in Belgium or Germany than it ever would in the UK.