1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136 
WIND DOWN AT LANGDONS
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
You voted Langdons in Taunton Britain's best truckstop, which was reason enough for us to head south west for a good feed, and to see what else it has to offer.
• When Taunton-based operator Langdons decided to use spare parking space and buildings in its haulage yard to open a truckstop, local councillors feared it would be just another greasy spoon. Now Langdons Truck Stop, off Junction 25 of the M5, has been voted Truckstop of the Year by Commercial Motor readers. It has none of the greasy fry-ups, grimy tables and aromatic toilets sometimes associated with transport cafes. Instead, it boasts rump steak on the menu, a lounge bar and spotless washrooms. In the 18 months since it opened it has won the hearts and stomachs of its regulars, who tuck in to 700 meals there every day.
VEGETABLE GARDENER
Mike Donoghue is managing director of the refrigerated haulage specialist. He is convinced that county councillors, impressed by its range of facilities (and the 17 jobs it has created, including a vegetable gardener and two security guards) will back his plan to add 12 bedrooms and parking for another 50 trucks.
At the moment the truckstop has no bedrooms, although up to 100 drivers use its guarded yard each night. Inside they can choose between satellite TV, pool, dinner or a drink in the bar (open evenings only — "we don't encourage drink driving" — and no dirty work-clothes allowed).
The bar even offers Langdons Bitter, brewed specially by hid Coope. There is a small library and a barber (the wife of an owner-driver who works for the company). Drivers pay £4 for the night: once built, a single room will cost about 28.
Outside there are fuel pumps and a lorry wash. During the day a typical menu includes roast beef and home-grown vegetables for £2.45; an 8oz steak (2.45), sweet and sour pork, liver and cottage pie. All staff wear Langdons Tshirts and caps, which are also on sale.
There is room to move in the showers and toilets, which are cleaned four times daily, at a cost of £400 per week — "but we have never had any vandalism", says Donoghue's son Stephen, who manages Langdon's Truckstop.
Donoghue reckons the truckstop has shaken larger chains like BP out of their complacency by providing decent services for truck drivers. "Some of the new ones are very good. We opened to this standard and now new ones are springing up all over the place. We seem to have set a precedent on what truckstops should be like," he says.
Langdons has bought a six hectare field behind the truckstop and hopes to get planning permission to turn it into extra parking. The truckstop, say the Donoghues, is becoming so popular that drivers have to be turned away.
Squeezing in as many wagons as possible is the job of security co-ordinator Ron Blake. His truck driving past helps him to make the best use of limited space: "A truck driver is the only person who could do this job," he claims.
MONEYSPINNER
Mike Donoghue admits the truckstop is not a major moneyspinner for Langdons, and to run one on its own, without a haulage operation to back it, would be difficult. Now he says the company might be interested in buying another haulage firm with space for a truckstop on site.
He depends on his own and visiting drivers to tell him what facilities are lacking. "Like the woman truck driver who told us to put in a ladies toilet. We hadn't thought of putting one in." Stephen Donoghue says personal recommendation is the best form of advertising. "I've been on the ferry to France selling the truckstop to foreign drivers. Most of them don't know we're here."
CI by Murdo Morrison