Aldi delivery bays

A new Aldi has just opened near us (the first discount store in our town!) and I wondered why is it that a the loading bays are designed for left-hookers? I’ve seen a couple of the RDC drivers struggling to get on, especially in the dark, with bollards and badly parked cars. Thinking about some other Aldis I’ve seen they also seem to be much the same. Is it just German 'bl**dy mindedness, or are architects really that thick?

I’ve heard Aldi stores are built to a standard Europe-wide design and so are designed to be serviced by LHD vehicles. Presumably this is simply forward planning by the German owners. :stuck_out_tongue:

We got an Aldi recently in Stroud and it’s set up for LHD.

Gosport one faces the car park entrance so is a staring line from the road meaning if you come the right way you just back in off the road

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Is this the same for Lidl’s aswell ? because the one near ours at seaforth looks like a right pain in the arse to get on to

New Aldi along form where I live come into car park down to bottom straighten up reverse back ( as long as nobody has dumped there cars there even though a big car park with marked bays there )

It is because they have decided we are no longer Brexiting but will instead become fully fledged proper EU members and will change to be a LHD country on 31st March instead :open_mouth:

Harry Monk:
I’ve heard Aldi stores are built to a standard Europe-wide design and so are designed to be serviced by LHD vehicles. Presumably this is simply forward planning by the German owners. :stuck_out_tongue:

I c what your implying there! :laughing:

mrginge:
We got an Aldi recently in Stroud and it’s set up for LHD.

Ayup, that’s the one! - it’s our ‘corner shop’ now, just waiting for Lidl at Cainscross, to really pee-off the greenies… :smiley:

My local Aldi is a good side reverse off the main road or blind side once insider the carpark. I guess it’s up to the driver to decide what he wants to do??

It’s interesting to watch a good side reverse from the road though with cars right up behind the trailer lol.

Even more interesting is watching a blind with idiots walking behind the trailer. You would think the store would send out a banksman but I guess not

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4yorks:
You would think the store would send out a banksman but I guess not

Self unloading, self banksman etc

tallyman:

mrginge:
We got an Aldi recently in Stroud and it’s set up for LHD.

Ayup, that’s the one! - it’s our ‘corner shop’ now, just waiting for Lidl at Cainscross, to really pee-off the greenies… :smiley:

Only been in once so far as im by Tesco/Tesco Express, Lidl and new houses at the old Stroud Metal Company site will be better then nothing so I don’t know what anyone is complaining about.

Its because the design of the building is an off the shelve Aldi blueprint. It saves money by not having architects draw designs for every single building.
It reminds me of last year I was taking cabins away from a new build waste to power incinerator and I was watching the lorries struggling to blind side reverse into the unloading shed. I asked the contactor why the building was set up for left hookers and he said its because the incinerator is owned by a French firm and every single building is identical. Seems illogical in the long run with all the damage they are going to get with drrivers who cant reverse for toffee never mind on the blind side!

The one at Wakefield (Sandal)…

Is ok for RHD. Despite it being an absolute doddle of a reverse there’s damage all over the place.

adam277:

Harry Monk:
I’ve heard Aldi stores are built to a standard Europe-wide design and so are designed to be serviced by LHD vehicles. Presumably this is simply forward planning by the German owners. :stuck_out_tongue:

I c what your implying there! :laughing:

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
they are just reminding us they didnt like losing twice.

If the architects had designed it like that without the German blue prints I wouldn’t say it would make them thick. Many new drivers don’t know what a blind side reverse is until they try it and suddenly realise that going that way means you can’t see.

But yes I have heard before it’s just the German design. Guess it’s another way they save money.

Ever notice how many motorway service area truck parks have you give way when leaving to car traffic approaching from the left, usually at a sharp angle? And these have been laid out like this decades ago!

Harry Monk:
I’ve heard Aldi stores are built to a standard Europe-wide design and so are designed to be serviced by LHD vehicles. Presumably this is simply forward planning by the German owners. :stuck_out_tongue:

You are correct, standard design throughout Europe,…

How hard would it be to reverse the blueprints ffs.

Aldi are not the only ones, Tesco have stores with LHD unloading banks, IIRC Whitstable has one. One of the reasons Waitrose are so fussy about drivers is that quite a few of their stores are challenging to say the least.

Countrywide many of the RDCs -and notably some of the newer ones - could have been so much better if only the architects had not relied so much on computer program modelling of HGV swept paths. Fine in theory, according to geometry the vehicle will go round the corner, but that takes no account of human ability nor of any variation from the ‘standard vehicle’ used in the calculations. The stupid thing is that councils and Highways England rely on the same computer programs for road layout. I have seen the plans for the proposed addition of a left turn filter lane locally, from one look on site it is clear that most artics will be starting the manoeuvre from the same place they do currently, except if the junction is constructed then there will be a car or cyclist trapped in the filter lane.

My local Is a gentle blind side reverse but I’m not convinced it’s safe doing it through the car park at least most of our (Asda) stores have a rear/side entrance away from the public.