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144 
P LETTER OF THE WEEK
Page 16
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The state of South Mimms is absolutely shocking
I RECENTLY HAD the misfortune to stop at the truckstop at South Mimms on the M25 for a spot of breakfast.
I noticed on the menu that it does a breakfast as•follows: '6 Wheeler, £3.99; '8' Wheeler, slightly larger and more expensive; and the '15' Wheeler, which is huge. Not being particularly large, my wife and I opted for the '6' Wheeler.
The restaurant was very cold and I noticed that two staff were wearing overcoats. With this in mind, I requested that the plates were hot, to which the lady replied: "Yes."
Within a matter of minutes the meals were delivered to our table looking somewhat sad.
I felt the plates and they were stone cold. As the lady walked off, 1 said: "Excuse me.lbese plates are cold." She ignored me and carried on walking. Needless to say, the food was also cold.
Feeling rather hungry, we made a start, but it was horrible. Rather than make a scene, I decided to take them back and ask for them to be put in the microwave for a few minutes, which the staff reluctantly did. The same woman who originally brought our meals carried them back and she looked somewhat aggressive.
Slightly better (although not by much) we tucked in. Our teas never arrived and we had to go and get them ourselves.
My wife went to the toilet and on her return told me how disgusting they were. On leaving I looked for the gents. I didn't have to look hard... I just followed the smell of urine; and these toilets were also disgusting. There was filth all around the pans, the floor looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a week and there wasn't a single plug in the wash basins.
I feel very embarrassed for the foreign truckers who have to use this truckstop.
A disgruntled driver Via email Ed's note: A spokeswoman for Welcome Break responds by saying: "We would like to sincerely apologise if the service received by this customer was not up to our usual high standards.
Our 6,10 and 15 Wheeler breakfasts are generally well received by hungry truckers, and are very good value for money. They are all freshly cooked to order so should always be nice and hot. At the moment, we warm the plates on a bain-marie and under a hot lamp, but, in response to this customer's complaint, we are sourcing a plate warmer so that we can avoid such a recurrence in future.
"The toilets and showers have recently been refurbished and are cleaned on a regular basis, so it is difficult to understand why there was such a problem at the time of their visit. We would like to pass on our thanks to this customer for this feedback. We are always grateful for constructive criticism, especially when it helps us improve our service."