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Setting the standards
Page 28
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Page 30
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An ambitious EU-funded scheme aims to improve the Lot of international. drivers by upgrading truckstops to approved standards of comfort and security.
inside europe
Words: Patric Cunnane International truck drivers are enjoying the benefits of four new super truckstops, with 50% of the cost borne by a €5.2m (£4.6m) grant from the European Commission... and a fifth one is on its way. This spring, the scheme's organisers will launch an agreed single standard and evaluate the truckstops already opened through its pilot project — SETPOS (Secure European Truck Parking Operational Services).
The four operating truckstops are Ashford, UK; Valenciennes, France; Woernitz and Urhsleben Germany. The last in the pilot project will be in Liege, Belgium and is under construction. All stops aim to give drivers a safe and secure environment where they can eat, wash, sleep and relax in decent surroundings.
Following the pilot project and the setting of standards, it is hoped that at least 70 sites will become certified in at least 10 EU member states under the tag of Label, a blue-flag scheme for rest areas. A tender is already in place to upgrade 80 existing stops.
Good facilities
The project has been enthusiastically supported by two MEPs on the European Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee, Anne Jensen, who is Danish and Dutchwoman Corien WortmannKool. The first of the five to open was in Valenciennes, France. "It's a masterpiece," says Jensen, "It's been a commercial success, proving that if you offer good facilities, people will use them. Drivers pay €13 a night, but buying a meal secures a discount. However, she is not so convinced by the 'secure'appearance of Uhrsleben in Germany. -It's like a prison!" she declares.
• Corien Wortmann-Koo L
Jensen acknowledges that the Germans have been instrumental in using IT systems to develop more efficient methods of parking, which can determine the order in which trucks leave and increase the capacity of the park.
There are also issues surrounding the parking of vehicles carrying dangerous goods, and where they should be positioned for maximum safety.
Jensen reveals that there has been a tender by a Dutch consortium, NEA, to improve and upgrade 80 truckstops across Europe to SETPOS standards.
She says there are particular hotspots (Continued on page 30) A Anne Jensen in Europe where drivers need extra support.
Long queues by the Russian border in Finland. Latvia and Estonia are a particular problem. "It's not fair on the drivers to have to queue, it affects their rest hours," she says.
Fortunately, the Russian and Finnish governments seem prepared to act...
Secure network
The 80 truckstops will provide a network of secure rest places along the Trans-European Road Network, helping to defeat the rising wave of cargo crime which costs the EU around E8bn a year. A Lag on to www.setpos.eu for more A study sponsored by the European Parliament after lobbying by Jensen and Wortmann-Kool, called Organised Theft of Commercial Vehicles and Their Loads in the European Union revealed that crime affects 90,000 drivers a year. •