A55 to lose its tea vans
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by Lee Kimber • Drivers on the A55 between Bangor and Chester are facing the closure of every refreshment stop that is prepared to serve them.
Welsh Office highways department officials are determined to close 10 unlicensed tea vans over the next few weeks because the A55 is a clearway. And restaurant chain Granada has rejected the authorities' claim that its Little Chef and Happy Eater restaurants will welcome truckers once the stalls are gone: it says its carparks are too small.
"The biggest problem is if customers cannot reverse out of the car parks," says Granada.
Most of Granada's six Little Chefs and two Happy Eaters on the A55 have signs banning LGVs and none of them have parking space designed for trucks.
Drivers Action Movement spokesman Jack Crossfield says many of the restaurant managers are happy to serve drivers but their company policy stops them. "They're for families," he says. "They're for neatly dressed people."
Six A55 tea van owners want drivers to sign their petition opposing the evictions—Nantwich snack seller Jim Carter says 2,000 drivers signed the petition which he present ed to highways agent Chester County Council last week. But the council is adamant it will close the vans because the Highways Agency says they are obstructing official clear