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Best of the rest
Page 24
Page 25
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Karl Rout has helped provide operators travelling through Suffolk with a much needed rest. Chris Tindall takes a break on the A14.
Lidays and port closures at Felixstowe have been bad news for the operators unfortunate enough to be caught up in them. But there's one man for whom the container terminal's interminable problems spell extra business.
Karl Rout has opened a truck park on the A14, seven miles from Felixstowe. And when the port warns of incoming storms or hold-ups drivers find it's a welcome haven.
Rout is keen to point out that he hasn't built the park by himself. A Look East TV crew came to report on its opening in February, but they failed to mention his brother John,who did all the construction work. He was also a little annoyed by the report itself.
-The [Look East] woman asked me for a menu, which also had a vegetarian and diabetic option," Rout says. "She said thanks, but then they showed it to a driver who they had brought in themselves and he said'I don't want that shit.' This was two days after we opened."
In fact that unfortunate quote worked in his favour the publicity attracted ramblers, who favour the -shit" veggie menu, and on Sunday mornings a motorcycle club meets in the truck park's restaurant too.
This is not to say that Rout is neglecting the truck drivers who comprise the bulk of the visitors to the Orwell Crossing Lorry Park. He carried out a lot of research into their needs before taking on the job.
"It was my brother's idea," he says. -I wasn't sure at first. People said there were pros and cons. All the pros were that Suffolk desperately needed a lorry park."
Rout's background isn't in haulage, it's in farming-which no doubt suits his size perfectly. He is a giant of a man with a voice softened by that unmistakable Suffolk twang. At first glance you wouldn't take him for general manager of a truck park. "I didn't intend to be manager," Rout explains.-He left with stress. We also got our fingers burnt with another."
Rout looks out of his office window and adds: "My brother works outside. At the end of the day he can see another acre of concrete and say 'I've done that.'"Rout much prefers the physical work to the administrative side of the business he now finds himself wrestling with.
Soaring value
The Rout family once owned the farmland the truck park and restaurant now sits on .They sold it to Mobil, which in turn sold it to BP before it was put back on the market and 150 acres were bought back by the original owners. As farmland it was worth £2,000 an acre; this price has now soared to £250,000 an acre.
"1 don't know if we made the right decision... I think we have," Rout adds hesitantly. "Our brother has two kids and they will be left it, if they want it."
His uncertainty is understandable,considering the difficulties the two brothers and their father faced when convincing the local community that a truck park was a good idea.
"They were happy that it removed trucks parking in their villages, but unfortunately they have a perception that all drivers are animals." he says. "They didn't want them. They thought there would be noise."
To counter this Rout went to a council meeting and gave a talk about why they were doing it. He even invited people to come and have a look at the site, but this was turned down, as it was felt it would be construed as bribery. "But some on the committee had common sense and per suaded them it was a good idea," he says.
Five months on and the site has room for 109 trucks to park overnight. The family has plans to expand that to 250, but shrewdly they plan to consolidate for another six months before forging ahead with further development. "We will wait until we are 80% full five days a week and then we'll go back and show the bank it's working," Rout explains. He expects to be breaking even on food and labour costs within two months.
But he's well aware of the risks: "We are all aware of what happened with Night Owl. We thought they were the best of the M25 bunch 18 months ago; then it went down markedly."
As for amenities, the showers must be a godsend for tired drivers who don't want to feel like they're back at school. There are 14 of them.each is housed in its own room with a sink. There are male and female toilets; Rout even took advice on what feminine products should be included.
The spacious,airy restaurant is named Dickies after his father (the Olives bar is named after his mother) and it offers a wide selection of food in an environment that would shame your average service station.
Rout has employed full-time chefs to serve food 24 hours a day: choices include braised steak, smoked haddock. lamb and chicken.
But he's also aware of the traditional views held by some in the industry: "If you want egg and chips we'll do it.
"A lot of hauliers have said it's too good for drivers. I tell them you're only a truck driver when you're in the lorry When you're not, you are customers. it's a bugbear of mine.., people get pigeonholed."
As we're leaving Rout is told that Felixstowe has closed due to high-winds. It seems that more bad weather's on its way.
lie smiles and says: —Wind-offs' do us good. Drivers come here that wouldn't normally... and then they come back." •