After a long day in the cab, lorry drivers want
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to unwind. But unlike their car colleagues, they do not always receive the red carpet treatment. Mike Sherrington took a look at the truckstop facilities on offer in the UK, and met the owner of a Liverpool stop who is striving to offer the necessary creature comforts...
When it comes to overnight parking, HGVs are the pariahs of the road. Facilities are few and far between and, especially when it comes to motorway services, most drivers feel that they are being ripped off by having to pay parking charges and exorbitant prices for meals.
Parking elsewhere also causes problems. A spokesman for Cumbria-based Ray Steele Removals is still smarting after being given a £100 parking ticket at lOpm for parking in the town hall car park in Chepstow, south Wales.
Most drivers also feel truckstop facilities in the country come a very poor second to those on the Continent.
However, even where facilities are generally accepted as being good, there is still the problem of drivers not wanting to pay to use them. How to overcome this is exercising the mind of John Parkinson, owner of TR Truckstops in Liverpool. Parkinson is unusual among truckstop owners because he is also an operator,with more than 250 vehicles operating through different companies including Dual Carriageway, TR Trailers, TR Transport and Dual Tank Transport.
On the day CMmet Parkinson he apologised for being late, saying: "I just had to nip over to Blackburn to buy a Renault tractor unit. In fact I ended up by buying three for £12,000 because they seemed a bargain. You would find it hard to buy three cars these days for that price."
)Very few other truckstop owners could cc claim to be so heavily involved in the industry 8 that they service. Fourteen years ago a Parkinson was working as a fitter out of a car avan at a truckstop near Coventry and has ") built up his operation to a £14 million-a-year turnover business. He has turned round the Liverpool truckstop from an operation losing
£2,000 a week under previous owners to '61 breaking even. TR Truckstops offers 24-hour E security, toilets and showers, diesel, beer at £1
a pint under a happy hour arrangement that seems to last for most of the day, and food, cooked by a former QE2 chef, which is so good that it is claimed that comedian Frank Carson breakfasts there.
As an added extra there are regular linedancing events most Saturdays.
Overnight parking costs £7 with a £2 voucher which gives a reduction on the price of breakfast.
However, many drivers continue to use the facilities free by parking down the road to avoid paying the parking charge. "I really don't know what to do about this. It costs me £800 a week just to provide the security and this is a tremendous benefit to drivers because as far as I know we have had nothing stolen from any vehicles parked here overnight. We also provide facilities for the local community so it is difficult to charge entrance but drivers who park up outside are costing me as well as putting their vehicles in danger," says Parkinson. "Ifs not as if it is really expensive, especially as most firms can claim VAT against the £7, which means it costs them £5.60 and they get £2.00 towards breakfast for that," he adds.
Drivers who use Parkinson's TR Truckstop are generally those who can get the money back from their firm or owner-drivers who refuse to cough up but still use the facilities. The difference is those who pay are generally taking advantage of the cheap bar while those who do not are on milk because they would have to go back and move their truck!
One of the most vehement anti-payers CM spoke to is owner-driver Barry Hughes who says: "Paying to stay in a truckstop is against my religion. I have never paid and I never wilL I believe that all truckstops should be free."
Another owner-driver, Raymond Devenney, agrees: "I have just come in here for a meal break. I never seem to have time to park up. If a driver came to me asking for a night parking money lam damn sure he would not get it." The view of the payers is expressed by Matt Long and Billy Preston, both employed by Blair International which pays parking costs. "The facilities here are not at all bad but they are nothing to compare with those on the Continent. This would probably count as a four-star British truckstop but would rate only one over there where you don't have to pay," says Long. "You get waitress service at the tables over there and the facilities are generally much better. However, we would usually pay in this country and today we had no choice because there was no room at the ferry terminal where the facilities are pretty nonexistent anyway," adds Preston.
Both drivers were acutely aware of the lack of stops in this country. "You tell me where you can find another truckstop between Ashford and here. And the one at Ashford has worse facilities. They serve beer from a small hatch in the wall, nothing like the bar here," says Long Frank Wilson of Euro Ltd comments: "The facilities here are brilliant, especially the food. I travel all over England, going home to Ireland every second week, and generally truckstops are poor especially those in motorway services where the food is just a rip-off."
No-go area And Alan Crawford, owner-driver of Crawford International, and John Foster, of East West Haulage, are both also quick to condemn the facilities provided at motorways services. "In England motorways services are virtually a no-go area for lorries. They just want to cater for cars—the facilities are so much better on the Continent," says Crawford.
Foster is also concerned about the facilities provided at some depots. One cited is the ASDA cold store in Kent which is visited by about 40 reefer lorry drivers a day. "There is only one washbasin and a lavatory, which is totally inadequate," he says.
The drivers' dismay at truckstop facilities is generally shared by representatives of larger firms. The spokesman for Ray Steele says: "Our staff are paid a night allowance but quite often it is impossible to find anywhere to spend it. The only saving grace is that other removal firms sometimes let us park up in their yard. There is a sort of unofficial network of removers where we try and help each other out but generally trying to find secure parking is a nightmare."
And Keith Blades, depot manager for Cambridge-based Welch's Transport, says: "The lack of facilities is generally appalling. Motorway services charge around i10 a night for overnight parking and offer no security and are not accepted by insurance firms as providing secure parking. If we have a valuable load we quite often have to get off the motorway network to find secure parking and we cannot claim back the extra costs of time and diesel from the client."
The only encouraging response to truckstops came from Simon Smith of Surrey-based Triumph Transport, who says: "I believe truckstop facilities have improved generally over the past few years and there are really some very good ones now."
IOFFER What security do truckstops offer and how much do they cost? tommercial Motorspoke to a number of truckstops listed in the freight Transport Associations 1998 Vehicle and Road Theft Survey to find out what was on offer.
Tretvwprkl TIvinrork -Cost £1.50 with (1.50 food voucher, Security includes floodlighting, wire fencing, ((TV cameras and a computerised entry ticket system.
-free. Access is controlled by machinereadable cards and the area also has floodlights and is patrolled by the Harbour Board's private police force.
-Cost (630 including 1130 meal voucher. There is a 24-hour guard.
• JP . -Cost 11.00 including £2 meal voucher. Security is provided by a 30ft fence, 24-hour patrol and floodlighting and fuel can also be bought on site.
-Cost I/ includes a free shower and a (2 voucher for a meal or drinks. Security is provided by barrier ticketing, a CCTV camera at the entrance, floodlights and a security guard at weekends.
-Cost E6 flat rate Security is provided by Tyson the Rottweiler, CCTV, floodlights and a night-watchman who accompanies Tyson.
• Croscinoto-Cost 15 including a El meal voucher. Security includes floodlights and a nightwatchman from 9pm to lam.
-Cost 16.50 including (2 meal voucher. Security is by a guard between lOpm and 6am, 24-hour CCTV and floodlights.
in, Somers.: -Has no overnight
Puking.
' -Cost E6 flat rate. Security is provided by all-night dog patrols.
-cost 14.50 including EI.50 voucher which can be used in the shop, restaurant or bar. Security is provided by floodlighting and an attendant between 6pm and 'tam.
-Cost 11,00 with 15% discount voucher for either breakfast or evening meal. There is 24-hour security office with CCTV, a dog patrol and perimeter fencing including a trip wire.