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High-spec secure truck parks are opening up in France
Page 12
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We may not like to admit it, but there are some things the French are better at than us — not least facilities for drivers. Guy Sheppard reports.
THE FIRST IN A NEW wave of high-spec truckstops is due to open in France next month (October) on one of the main routes between northern and southern Europe.
Engineering group Egis is building the 230-truck site called Park +near Langres, to the south-cast of Paris.
It hopes to develop up to 10 similar sites within the next five years, saying that many existing truckstops on the French motorway network are unable to meet demand. Egis project manager Alain Podvin says: "Some places are getting so full that we're finding ILOVs] parked at the entrances and exits of the service areas" The company is developing the Langres site at Junction 6 of the A31 in conjunction with a French motorway group. Facilities will include a restaurant, bar, shop, lounge, launderette, showers and toilets. The €5m (£3.4m) investment does not include the price of the five-hectare site, which is not being disclosed.
Parking will cost €15 (£10.10) per night. The entrance and exit will be controlled electronically and a guard will be based there permanently.
Podvin says LG V security is becoming a big issue with insurers: "There are clauses that say the truck should be parked in guarded and closed areas to ensure cover in case of theft."
lie adds that Langres will be only the fourth secure truck park in France. During the past year two secure sites have opened; at Beziers, Languedoc, and north of Paris.
Podvin does not rule out entering the UK truckstop market but says: "For now, we're staying in France."
Murdo MacDonald, managing director of truckstop operator Nightowl, argues that the economics of building new truckstops in the UK simply do not add up because land is too expensive in the South and there is insufficient demand in the North.