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Truckstop owners call for motorway-style signage
Page 8
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By Roger Brown TRUCKSTOP OPERATORS arc claiming that the number of crimes involving lorries could be reduced if the government allowed them to have signs that are similar to motorway service stations.
Stuart Tanton, owner of the Docklands truckstop in Goole, East Yorkshire, claims secure lorry parks providing overnight parking need appropriate signage, including symbols to indicate sleeping and eating facilities.
Currently, truckstops without refuelling areas can only have small brown tourist information-style signs. These are controlled by the Highways Agency (HA) on trunk roads and by local highway authorities on local roads.
Tanton says: "What we really need is a proper sign on the outskirts of Hull saying: 'Secure truck stop, 26 miles: People don't know we are here, and the A63 lay-bys are solid with trucks, which are sitting ducks for criminals."
Karl Rout, manager at the Orwell Crossing Lorry Park in Suffolk, adds: "Foreign drivers could be confused by the brown signs and not even realise they are anywhere near a secure parking area, We need big, clear signs like the service station ones that can be understood by anyone."
Bob Hardman, who has run the Lockerbie truckstop since 2001, has just won an eight-year battle with the HA to get service station
type signage. He says: "Our facility boasts 300 places, security features, a bar, and accommodation. But, I believe that we only managed to get our four new signs at a total cost of /50,000 I might add after we agreed to install a bunker fuel facility."
An HA spokesman says: "The appropriate highway authority is responsible for deciding whether or not the establishment should be signed. Once installed, the signs may he modified, replaced or removed by the highway authority at its discretion.