An overnight succes1 in Penriti
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The Penrith Truck Stop was designed wit] lorry drivers in mind — even the filling station only serves diesel. It offers overnight accommodation, a cafe, a five-acre lorry park and drivers' facilities. David Wilcox reports
ENRITH in Cumbria has long 3en a traditional overnight stop ir lorry drivers, largely because glance at the map shows the iwn to be at a haulage cross'ads.
le M6 skirts the town while the 6 goes right through it and, ining both is one of the main ans-Pennine routes, the A66 hich runs right across country I meet the Al at Scotch Corner. So when Penrith decided to troduce a lorry ban and shut le town's lorry park this posed Jite a problem. The solution is ie Penrith Truck Stop.
It's a combination of overnight commodation, cafe, lorry park us drivers' facilities and fuel op and is ideally placed just off e roundabout that joins the M6 Junction 40 with the A66. Just ,flow the lorry park signs and )u're there.
The Truck Stop marks the ige of Penrith's new industrial ;tate and opened for business 1July 6 this year. Local MP and ome Secretary Willie Whitelaw )ened it officially on Sepmber 9. After giving it a few lonths to get established my and photographer Les Davis recently stayed the night at the Truck Stop to see what it had to offer.
Entering the Truck Stop you first pass under a canopy boasting six Shell diesel pumps. There are no petrol pumps so for once the lorry driver is not diverted to an obscure dery pump at the back of the forecourt. Truck Stop claims this to be one of the first purpose-built diesel refuelling sites in the country.
At 165.5p per gallon (at the time of writing} the diesel here is not cheap but it does reflect the fact that Cumbria is one of the more expensive areas in the country for fuel. Shell agency cards are accepted and cornpanies can also arrange bunkering facilities.
The lorry park is a well-surfaced five acres and can accommodate about 150 or more artics. During the day the vehicles that pull in just for a cup of tea or a meal tend to be parked a little haphazardly but those arriving later to stay the night are marshalled into orderly lines to make the most of the space.
Overnight parking costs £2 while units and trailers coming in for a changeover are charged 50p.
Penrith Truck Stop caters for two types of overnight stay. For those drivers with sleepers who are going to spend the night in the cab the £2 overnight parking fee includes full use of all the facilities; the dining room, shop, bar and lounge, games room and most importantly, the excellent washrooms and showers.
For drivers who crave a proper bed for the night Truck Stop has a selection of one , two or threebedded rooms. All are fairly small and spartanly furnished but they are modern, clean, warm and very reasonablypriced. A single-bedded room costs just £5 per night, a twinbedded room is £4.50 per person and a three-bedded room costs £4.00 per person. In all there are 32 beds.
Each room has its own toilet and shower except the singles which share a bathroom between two. Predictably, the single rooms fill up first so it is advisable to ring ahead in the morning to secure one of these — otherwise there's no need to book.
Most drivers stopping overnight generally arrive between 4pm and 8pm.
The dining room is open to all haulage drivers between Sam and 11.30pm. It seats 60 in clean and pleasant surroundings and offers a menu that is probably best described as "traditional". The food was to a good standard and nicely presented. For the driver who is watching his waistline there is a small selection of salads. A three-course meal costs about £2-£2.50. Upstairs, along with some the bedrooms is the bar. This i large, comfortable room with small bar in the corner and colour television. The drir prices are similar to those ir pub, as are the opening hours.
The only difference is that t Truck Stop bar does not, for ( vious reasons, open lunchtimes. Adjoining the bar the games room with three pi tables, two darts boards a some video games.
Downstairs is a small sh which opens in the mornir and evenings to sell swee cigarettes, magazines, cassett etc.
We stayed at the Penrith Tn. Stop on a Monday night. It fairly quiet but when we w( out into the lorry park at ab( 9.30pm we were surprised find that about 80 lorries h pulled in for the night. 7 majority of their drivers were in the lounge enjoying a qu drink and watching television.
I went round and had_a with some of them to get th verdict; after all, the Truck St was specifically designed • them. Some had just stopped for a meal, some were staying the rooms while most w( sleeping in their cabs overnic d getting their £2 worth by ving a meal, shower and drink the bar.
Every driver I spoke to was full praise. It was exactly what .3y needed. Some who were eping in their cabs pointed t that normal motorway ser:e areas were charging for ernight parking but did not Dvide the same sort of facilis.
For once, nobody had any mplaints about the food. It is good and plentiful and the tgish opening hours for the ling room were considered a right. Many of the drivers mpared the Penrith Truck 3p with the 'other place' — the rlisle Truck Motel, 20 miles or further up the M6.
rheir opinions could be sumarised in the words of one ver who said: "It depends let you're looking. for. If it's tertainment and a lively atDsphere you should go up to a one at Carlisle.
''But if you want a good meal. bit of peace and quiet and a od night's sleep then I reckon this is the best bet."
All the drivers I spoke to said they would stop off at Penrith again next time they were passing, either for a cuppa or an overnight stop. Some were already regulars, mostly the Scottish drivers.
Would they like other Truck Stops elsewhere in the country? Once again a unanimous yes, with most drivers suggesting a site lower down the M6 in the Midlands or on the M1 just north of London.
The man who might possibly be able to fill this need is Paul Hargreaves, managing director of Truck Stops Ltd. "We're fairly pleased with the way Penrith is coming on," he said. 'The turnover is increasing steadily as more drivers get to know us, By spring we'll be established and earning money."
Mr Hargreaves estimated that most nights there are about 100130 vehicles in the lorry park. Sunday and Friday nights are the quietest. As far as the bedrooms are concerned about 20 of the 32 beds are occupied each night on average.
December 31 this year may well be a turning point for Penrith Truck Stop, This is the day when use of the tachograph becomes compulsory and many driver told me that they expected th extra control of the tachograp to result in quite a few more cw tamers for the Truck Stop, I asked Pau! Hargreaves i with the benefit of hindsight, h felt he had got the mix right Penrith. After a moment' thought he replied: ''YeE broadly speaking I think we'v got it right first time. Ideally w could have done with a littl more overnight parking spec and some more bedrooms."
Fortunately there is son extra space available on the sit and this might yet be used t expand the parking space an extend the bedroom block. Th extra bedrooms would all b single ones — the experience c the first few months has clearl shown that it is these that ar most in demand.
Drivers calling in at Penrith couple of months ago wer asked to complete a questior naire about the Truck Stop.
Quite a number of driver wanted some form of live entel tainment in the evenings Ix countering this was an equall large number who said they pal ticularly liked the Truck Stop bc cause it was quiet.
The 64,000 dollar question of course will there be any moi Truck Stops? Said Paul Ha greaves: "Even up here in Curr bria the Truck Stop represeni almost a E3/4m investrnen• We're satisfied that there is th demand for an uprnarke stopover for truck drivers but has to be an economic demand.
"Further south on the M6 c the MI the cost of a site is s expensive that we — or anyon else — would need to take long, hard look at the economic of the project."
So much will depend on ho' well the Penrith Truck Stop doe in the coming months. Judgin from our own short stay there deserves every success. And it about time we caught up wit some other European countriE where good facilities for Ion drivers on motorways and trur roads are the rule rather then th exception.