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Let's code these transport cafes

24th September 1976, Page 99
24th September 1976
Page 99
Page 99, 24th September 1976 — Let's code these transport cafes
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

1,ORRY DRIVERS are someimes offered accommodation laving the character of "neoDickensian doss-houses," according to Egon Ronay's 1977 Lucas Guide to Transport Cafés and Accommodation.

Published this week by Seymour Press at 95p, the pocket-sized booklet contains 341 guide recommendations of which 81 are also commended for accommodation.

In its third annual round of transport cafés an Egon Ronay inspection team looked at 430 cafés. Sixty recommended last year are either no longer recommended or have closed. Two-hundred and four are regarded as suitable for the general public as well as lorry drivers.

The inspection team followed the advice of Mr Jack Jones, the Transport and General Workers Union general secretary, in examining available rooms for lorry drivers.

In a foreword to this year's Guide, Mr Jones says: "I am shocked at the scandalous state of the accommodation in some transport cafés, which the Guide's inspectors were unable to recommend, and at the apparent lack of enforcement of minimum standards. An official code and its proper enforcement is called for."

Although the efforts of great numbers of café owners are conmiended for their reasonable prices the inspection team regretted that the shortage of high-standard accommodation "Has entailed the inclusion in otherwise barren districts, some of which cannot be recommended with enthusiasm."

The team found ill-kept dormitory rooms and inadequate washing facilities. Scotland's cafés were the best, on average.

Set lunches, where available, averaged around 70p and a full breakfast 55p, but single-dish meals and snacks are becoming increasingly popular.

The 10 best cafés with the best accommodation are — Cornwall: Tom's Café, Redruth; Derbyshire: Atkins Transport Cafe, Findern; Hampshire: The Cafe, Andover; Nottinghamshire: Blue Star Garage Cafe, Blyth; Morley's Transportel, Markham Moor; Suffolk: Routemaster Hotel, Felixstowe; West Midlands: Kernal Transport Café, Newtown; West Yorkshire: Woodland's Transport Hotel, Micklefield; Scotland: Coatesgate Café, Beattock, Dumfries, and Galloway; Merlindale Café, Crawford, Strathclyde.