STOP OFF
Page 54
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Truc orld
This month our galloping gourmet Steve McQueen visits Essex-Truckworld to test the culinery delights on the menu.
Kippers, American breakfasts and the traditional English version were all there, as were cereal bars indicating the healthy option. Capuccino coffee on the menu gave a continental flavour.
Breakfast is a different world in EssexTruckworld, to be more precise, in West Thurrock, just off J30 on the M25. The amenities include the 63 twin and single room Bridge Hotel, restaurant seating For more than 1 50, lounge bar, secure overnight parking for 260 trucks, a fuel point and truckwash. There is probably no shortage of lorry driver facilities around London's orbital motorway, it's just that they are all in one place. Mind you, there can be a world of a difference between scale and quality of service, as some large transport operators have discovered in a chase for business with the owner-drivers. Big is not necessarily beautiful either, where breakfast menus are concerned.
At Truckworld, on the other hand, breakfasts are "bumper". Bumper's Restaurant offers Fried egg, tomatoes, Iwo rashers of bacon, two sausages, two rounds of toast and fried bread. Completed with a hot drink, the value of the "bumper breakfast" at 22.90 certainly sounded as good as the name. Awaiting the arrival of order no. 29, I sat opposite Derek Batham, an owner-driver From Cumbria who had just returned From the Continent. He was halfway through a pair of Truckworld bacon rolls at 80p each. "A bit short on the bacon," he said.
Order no 29, however, was not The bacon was fine, the sausages were the best I'd tasted in recent trips and if you are a skinned tomatoes lover, this is theplace. It was a shame about the egg. The flagship of the breakfast was hard and flat. I sampled the capuccino which was OK, but as if in keeping with most European Union ideas about standardisation, all the beverages came out of the same machine. Indecisive about the marks for quality of food and service, I sought the opinions of three fellow diners. Paul, Gordon and Andy were From Kue Group, in Bradford. They were in the middle of a week-long stay completing a local contract. Andy blamed an undercooked egg for a low scoring "three", Paul supported Andy's case based on the experience of a "flat cold bacon sandwich", while Paul had eaten bacon and egg and thought the brilliant food selection and general standard was "worth a Five".
Presumably, his egg was cooked after Andy's but before mine. Truckworld's owners describe it as a mini community. Evidence supports this as several other businesses operate From its high-security parking area and many hauliers have agreements to trans-ship loads trunked from all points around the country. Residential accommodation is all en-suite at £12 a single, while overnight parking casts £6 and a £1 meal voucher is included. Showers and toilets were well cared for, but number compared to the attendance means you must get up early or face a queue. A pint of beer in the spacious lounge costs £1.70 outside the happy hour, and although it was obvious what type of music the Buster Blues Brothers played, the variety of entertainment provided on stage by Ruth was unclear.
For the ladies there are "hen nights" which sound... interesting. Video monitors and night patrols make Truckworld as safe a parking spot as you could wish for, and a vehicle recovery service operates from the site. The variety of Food on offer for all meals impressed me as well as Paul, and places this truckstop ahead of many others on this score. However, given the scale of the operation, the number calling system reduces its lead somewhat. It erodes the personal touch without solving an apparent problem in the egg and bacon departments, evident on this particular occasion.
Joint-owners Andrew Watson and Former transport consultant Nick Ashby might consider such issues when putting the best ideas from Truckworld I—together with those Found in other truckstops around the UK—into practice at Truckworld II, Channel Stop, which has just opened its highsecurity gates near the mouth of the Channel Tunnel.