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ITIRUCK
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STOPS HERE
We have driven down the Great North Road from York to Grantham and across to Birmingham with Dennis Mills, the man behind the TGWU campaign to improve our truckstops.
• It was just after half-past seven in the morning when we joined the Al at its junction with the busy Leeds-York A64. Dennis Mills was eagle-eyed for the first rest-stop of our journey south.
"Here we are," he shouted, gesturing with the stem of his pipe, "the sign says
services, dead ahead. . . oh no, it's one of those bloody Little Chefs." We had been on the Al for less than 50 metres.
Mills represents more than 100,000 Midlanders on the national executive of the most powerful union in Britain, the Transport and General Workers. He is also the voice of thousands of truck drivers and runs the TGWU-backed campaign to improve Britain's generally dismal truckstop facilities. The ever-growing band of Little Chef eateries around the country are the bane of his life.
"Just look at the place. Frilly curtains, pot plants and a 'No trucks thank you very much sign outside," he growls.
The Nuthill Little Chef site is typical of the Tnisthouse Forte chain — clean, efficient and small. The car park is purposebuilt to take only cars.
Within minutes we reach the Hillcrest Cafe, a bustling truckstop opened by the Pickersgill family in 1937 as a refreshment stop for cyclists. The yard is chock-ablock with wagons and vans, and as we stop by the cafe entrance to take a picture the constant stream of commercials pulling in keeps us light on our feet.
Proprietor Gly Pickersgill, grandson of the cafe's founders, accosts us: "Here, you from the Ministry?" he demands. He seems intrigued by our pilgrimage and starts to tell us about the hassle and opposition he faces every day trying to run a simple truckstop: "No-one likes truckers, do they? I'm always getting complaints from the locals about the yard and the lads."
Pickersgill has to bellow to be heard over the thunder of traffic on the Al only 10 metres away. Nearby householders must have incredibly sophisticated hearing to tell the difference between the engine noise of vehicles in the yard of the Hill crest and the overwhelming din coming from the road itself.
"I've been refused a licence for this place four times," says Pickersgill. "The police keep saying that if we get a drinks licence, truck drivers who sleep here overnight will leave in the morning intoxi cated. It's ridiculous — There's a pub across the road."
Indeed the "Boot and Shoe' can't be more than 50 metres from the front door of the Hilicrest Cafe. Pickersgill says that drivers parking up for the night in his yard II. inevitably venture across the busy dual carriageway just for somewhere to sit in the warm and enjoy a drink and a chat after he has closed in the evening.
Walking back from the pub in the dark and crossing the road — jumping over a central reservation crash barrier on the way — must surely be a bigger threat to road safety than letting a few drivers have a quiet pint in the rooms the Hillcrest has had fitted out but empty for years, says Pickersgill. The man is bitter and finds local police and local authority support non-existent.
"Let's face it," he says. "If it's got anything to do with truckstops or truck drivers, people just don't want to know. They want shut of me and they want shut of the lads." Mills a former truck driver, nods.
BP is bidding for a local site called Woodlands, says Pickersgill, with the apparent intention of opening up a new service site and truckstop "Big business never faces the same opposition as me. Why not?" he asks.
Less than 10 minutes later we reach the Ferrybridge power station on the Al and Norman's Cafe. As at the Hilicrest, a full breakfast with all the trimmings costs around U. The huge yard is full.
Just south of Ferrybridge we stop to chat to a couple of Exel Logistics drivers at the Wayside Cafe and Motel. "Yeah, we use this place a lot," we're told. "Its £2.25 for breakfast or thereabouts. It's very reasonable." It serves alcohol too. "Can't see an intoxicated driver anywhere, can you?" says Mills, waspishly.
CARAVAN
just north of the Doncaster AIM section we come across our first caravan in a layby. "Oh my God," says Mills. "What a terrible bloody place to have to stop and eat. Think how unhygenic it is for a start. Where does he get his fresh water from every day? Shouldn't be allowed. This is not the sort of thing drivers are used to seeing on the Continent." We push on through the driving rain.
Through the spray comes Barnsdale Bar Services, We had hardly stopped when Mills was out in the rain, storming towards a gigantic blue sign. lust look at it. It's blatant discrimination, it's just downright class snobbery. I'm angry. Damned angry."
The Trusthouse Forte sign reads: "CARS ONLY. NO HEAVY GOODS VEHICLES."
"So who delivers the food to this bloody place?" asks Mills. "Does it all arrive by pushbike? It's about time my lads took signs like this literally and refused to enter Little Chef sites. You know what. THE has literally hijacked this piece of ground. It's on a major trunk road, it's big and it bans trucks. Why? Because lorry drivers are dirty? No they're not. Because we're noisy and troublesome? I don't know. I'm bitter about this sort of thing.": The parking area at Banisdale is vast, probably twice the size of an average truckstop yard. "It's bloody criminal. My drivers who keep the economy of this country moving. They are important people and this kind of attitude makes them feel like lepers. Why doesn't the DTp plan truckstops properly?"
We decide to calm Mills down and pull into the Granada Services at Blyth, the second Granada site of the day. It's like a different world. Truck and coach drivers are positively welcomed: truck parking is free for the first two hours. The truck park is well lit and secure, and the incredibly clean canteen has a section reserved for truck and coach drivers.
Mills warms up. "Now look at this. Granada has ,a pro-truck policy and the place is well used."
Granada manager Chris Patrick notices us taking pictures and comes over. "Oh yes," he says. "We want all the commercial drivers we can get. We offer incentives too: we give them a lp meal voucher for every litre of diesel they buy on site, so if you fill up with 150 litres here, you get a £1.50 meal ticket, It works well. The drivers can use showers here on site, free. They pay a small deposit for the shower room key, which is returnable. We keep the lorry park lit all night and anyone can use the overnight rooms in the lodge anytime."
Mills asks him why Granada likes truck drivers on site and THF doesn't. "Dunno," says Patrick, "but what we do have is a company statement that we cater for ALL drivers. And that's that. Truck drivers are no different from anyone else, are they? We're even introducing a night-time TV point for our truck drivers so that they can sit down and relax in the restaurant in the evening. The truck park is completely full every night. "We get a hell of a lot of Continental drivers in here now," he adds, "and they tell me this is the standard they expect."
Mills checks out the Granada reaction with some of his members. "Very positive," he says, "One of the lads has shown me his wallet; he's got 12 £1.50 meal vouchers in there. They like these places." The Granada concept is the future says Mills.
From Bawtry to Newark, 50kro of nothing save for a truckstop so badly signposted that we are passing it by the time we see it, a clutch more Little Chefs, and a rickety caravan selling "Fries". South of Newark Mills stares at the sodden fields blurring past. "I've a woman keeps writing to me wanting to build a truckstop here. The real thing, you know. Trouble is the Department of Transport is doing all it can to stop her. They've told her she will have to pay for the deceleration lane of the Al. That would cost her hundreds of thousands . . . crazy."
At Grantham we turn west on the A52. A garage has a forecourt cafe called the Bistro with a pair of 17-tonners outside. We follow the stream of trucks to the A46 and turn left for Leicester, then pick up the A6006 and cut across country to the new M42. There is nowhere to stop and nowhere to eat until we reach Birmingham two hours later.
We end the journey at the Happy Hour at Bassett's Pole on the A38, two minutes from Mills' home in Sutton Coldfield. "Makes you think," he says, "if lorry drivers don't do something soon, there'll be nowhere like this left.
"They're professionals and they deserve a professional service. Granada is the only firm I know which has got it right nationally. Good luck to them. If we just allow ourselves to become a nation of sales reps in suits with plastic money, God help us."
Ei by Geoff Hadwick