No relief for truck drivers
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By Chris Tindall TRUCK DRIVERS MUST contend with an absence of toilets along their regular routes because the £25,000 needed to run each one is prohibitive, warns the Road Haulage Association (RHA).
Shropshire council is the latest local authority to say that the closure of the public toilets for lorry drivers at a truck stop on the A41 near Prees Heath was due to no agreement being reached with a parish or town council to continue funding the operating costs.
The council says: “Although most towns and parishes were more than happy to ensure a transfer took place, some towns and parishes wished to pursue other initiatives in their communities and declined Shropshire Council’s offer, or no agreement could be reached.
“For those towns and parishes that chose not to operate their public toilet, these will unfortunately close from 1 April 2011.” But RHA head of infrastructure Chrys Rampley says the decision is short-sighted and will lead to additional costs.
“A number of them are closing because the cost of running them is £25,000. But they are not taking into account the environmental problems it causes,” she explains.
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