folken83:
Thats bit weird you said that. I just been called last week by my agency to do a run into France in a class2 lol. Had to turn it down though, dont fancy leaving missus with the kids for too long on their own
Oh and mind You, I consider myself as a new driver only passed a year ago
It’s a bit of a shame that you had to turn that down but I get where you are coming from, priorities are different when you have family. On the Plus side, the agency must think fairly highly of you to have offered it you in the first place.
JenS:
As a wannabe I assumed truckers could park overnight in motorway services which, if not showers, at least have toilets. Is this not the case?
Of course you can park overnight in MSA, (if you look on the previous page you will see my opinion on that) but who in their right mind would want to ffs?.. other than those who are made to by their firm, or in an emergency situation, or those who know nothing else or no better. It’s an improvement on a lay by I suppose…but what isn’t.
MSA s are for a shower, toilet, and a quick latte imo, not for overnight parking,…well not unless you’re willing to chuck the thick end of 25 notes away anyway, whether you are re.imbursed or not.
m.a.n rules:
whilst I totally agree with your comment about all the crap left in lay bys, the one that pee’s me off is when there are bins there and they are overflowing and surrounded by rubbish where people have done the right thing but the councils cant be arsed to empty them
If a bin is full, I do what most reasoned folk would do, that is take the rubbish home with me and discard said refuse in a household bin.
People obviously haven’t done the right thing to leave rubbish with a already overflowing bin.
To be fair we do have some semi decent truck stops.
And motorway services. Arnt overly bad
The problem is most companies refuse to pay for us to park there.
Hence most park in laybye estates with no facilities having to pee into bottles not have a proper wash.
The facilities are there but company’s are to tight fisted to pay
m.a.n rules:
whilst I totally agree with your comment about all the crap left in lay bys, the one that pee’s me off is when there are bins there and they are overflowing and surrounded by rubbish where people have done the right thing but the councils cant be arsed to empty them
If a bin is full, I do what most reasoned folk would do, that is take the rubbish home with me and discard said refuse in a household bin.
People obviously haven’t done the right thing to leave rubbish with a already overflowing bin.
TruckerWannabe123:
Yes it’s a genuine question. If truckers just park alongside the road during the nights then where do they wash and do their business? Are there dedicated truck stops with laundromat, showers, canteens etc in the UK like in north america? In north america is virtually unheard of to just park on the side of the street.
There are a few truckstops in the UK but generally facilities are very poor. I’ve never been to the US so I can’t comment about that, but in mainland Europe it’s a totally different world when it comes to driving a truck, with excellent facilities everywhere, Centre Routiers in France, Autohofs in Germany etc.
I’m not sure why it is so different in the UK, possibly the price of land makes it uneconomical to operate a truckstop?
I can say for certain that I won’t do nights out any more, not because facilities have become any worse but simply because I have become too old to tolerate them.
Because in Eu most motorway have tool road.Every singly truck pay 100-200eiro per day.In Uk truck pay just Ved tax some 500 per years.All shower in Eu 3 quid.Wc 0.70.
Ok while it’s true that service areas in most of the rest of Europe are on toll roads and are generally far better than the UK, most of the best parking areas for truck drivers in Europe tend to be off the toll routes and privately run and if you actually buy a meal you normally don’t have to pay to park or use the showers, so the lack of toll roads is no reasons for UK facilities to be so bad.
Harry Monk:
There are a few truckstops in the UK but generally facilities are very poor. I’ve never been to the US so I can’t comment about that, but in mainland Europe it’s a totally different world when it comes to driving a truck, with excellent facilities everywhere, Centre Routiers in France, Autohofs in Germany etc.
I’m not sure why it is so different in the UK, possibly the price of land makes it uneconomical to operate a truckstop?
Land prices obviously have an effect but mostly I believe it’s the difficulty of getting planning permission. This is from a report after someone tried, several times I believe, to try and develop a truckstop on the A55 :-
“They said the proposed site, largely on brownfield land next to junction 31 of the A55, was ‘not a suitable place’ for the development.”
Err. next to a junction is not suitable
To be fair that was from a councillor, not the planning officer, who I think recommended approval. Still got refused though.
This is why we need to change the planning laws, there are massive warehouses and distribution parks going up everywhere, (at least in the Midlands) and they are designed to be serviced by the road haulage industry, but they don’t have to provide some facilities for those trucks to park even for a break let alone overnight parking, I often stay at the Ibis at Crick, the place is full of Distribution warehouses but nowhere to park a truck, but it has a hotel.
)
