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Night drivers aren't hungry
Page 16
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Nightowl restaurants will no longer see in the dawn says Guy Sheppard.
'I'RUCKSTOP OPERATOR Nightowl is cutting the opening hours at some of its restaurants by up to a third, despite a multimillion-pound investment in new facilities.
The company, which bought the sites from BP last year, blames lack of custom for the decision to scrap its 24/7 opening policy.
At its Wolverhampton site, manager Steve Guttridge says drivers working unsocial hours rarely seem to want to eat in the middle of the night. "I've almost been surprised at the lack of challenge there's been from the drivers about this," he adds.
His new restaurant opening hours are from 5am-11.30pm weekdays. 5am-1.30pm on Saturdays and 10am-10.30pm on Sundays. Similar changes were introduced at Crick, near Rugby, earlier this month and are due to be introduced at Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, on Monday (27 October).
However,shops at all these sites will remain open throughout the night, enabling drivers to buy food and drink.
Pat Nicholson, a founder of the Professional Drivers Association, contacted Nightowl about the changes after several members raised the issue with her.
She accepts the reasons for making the changes: "There's absolutely nobody going in there at these times and the company is having to pay staff to be there."
CM has received reports that some Nightowl sites recently ran out of fuel. Guttridge says this is probably linked to the renewal of pumps, resulting in temporary restrictions on fuel sales