Exelby Services Limited, your opinions please!

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
41

hi eggman,

i along with half a dozen others i work with use the fleece nearly every night running from scotland down south and the only gripe is the cost of coffee @ £1.25… i think it would attract more drivers if the coffee was free when filling up… i probably use about 250 - 300 litres a night and i dont think a free coffee would break the bank… staff are always chirpy and nothings any bother to them… even when you forget your pin number for your card… oops!!!

42

webby08:
hi eggman,

i probably use about 250 - 300 litres a night and i dont think a free coffee would break the bank

The problem with a ‘free coffee’ promotion is simply the cost. On a sale of 250 litres we would get about £2 in handling fees. (We charge less than 1p per litre to bunker fuel.) It is therefore very difficult to give away a £1.25 coffee on every fill-up. The profit margin on a coffee is’nt as much as you might think. although the cost of the ingrediants are reasonable, the machines are very, very expensive. Alot more than you would expect!!

What minimum amount of fuel sale would you think should get a free coffee?
What do other services do?

43

I use Tebay now as we get a coffee token and food vouchers with our fuel.
The staff at the fleece were allways polite and the toilets clean.

44

the eggman:

chaversdad:
so which one are you then eggman, the tall one with the goaty beard? just wondering as i get on well with all the staff on both sides of the A19 and just wondering if i,ve seen you about :smiley:

LOL
The person I think you are trying to descibe is Jonathan Tarran, the Site Manager at the A19 South.

he was the only one i could think of who looked important :laughing:

45

Its nice to see a cafe manager who actually cares about the drivers and what they think, I dont get up north east very much but when I do I will certainly use Exelby. Keep up the good work eggman.

46

Hello from another of your regulars! :grimacing: :blush:

Ok, here goes:

A19 Southbound and Northbound:

  1. Showers please. Pretty please. Doesn’t even need to be seperate male/female as long as they are clean. It’s the nearest point to Teesside that we get paid the night out, so all 60 of our firm’s vehicles use both at least once a fortnight, usually more!
  2. Gotta agree on the Ginsters. The reason they sell is because the Sandwich King sells out first, and if you’ve hung out to call in specifically because you don’t want Ginsters (which I do, regularly) you’re then left starving with no other choice. :cry:
  3. The cafe on the Southbound side is now being used regularly by our lads since Knayton went pop (the previous favourite), and since Knayton Northbound is unreliable, that too could get a lot more evening business EXCEPT he can never seem to decide whether to stay open or not. When asked about it, he was downright rude, and word has now got around and he’s being boycotted as a result except in desperation. 60 motors plus subbies on regular nights out along there, all needing feeding day in day out. Think about it. :wink:
  4. The women’s toilet on the Southbound side is ok, but the male staff use it and don’t always wipe the rim before dropping the seat. Since the seat doesn’t fit properly at the front, I then find myself having to wipe it before use to avoid getting the shop lads’ pee on the back of my trousers. Not nice. Also, no proper sanitary disposal facility.
  5. The women’s toilet on the Northbound side is bloody freezing. In the worst of the bad weather I went in last thing and whilst the window had been shut, it was still unheated, and like dropping your trousers in a freezer. Since your staff that side are mainly female, surely they, too, deserve to do the necessary in something more than Baltic conditions? The box under the sink with a black bag in for sanitary disposal is downright rank. How much does it cost to at least get a swing bin in there FFS■■?
    Also, at risk of giving you a lecture on female anatomy, we lasses can’t “water our wheels” in the middle of the night like the lads, so what the hell are we supposed to do between 10pm and 6am when the toilets are locked? I often get up and need to start before the morning staff get in. Would you ask your missus to pee under her trailer at 2am? No. You wouldn’t. And I don’t appreciate it either. :confused:

Oh, and you now can’t say there isn’t the demand, either. I seem to spend half my life sleeping at A19 Northbound. :stuck_out_tongue:

Other than that, keep up the good work. Despite the moans, both sides are definately on the right tracks, it’s just minor niggles, all of which could be sorted with the extra revenue you’ve generated from the increase in parking price recently - although, to be fair, it’s still well below average and cracking value. :grimacing:

The other one our lot regularly use is the Golden Fleece, as it’s a handy refuelling point on the way back from the longer Scottish runs, as well as a good overnight stop. It would be nice to see a food option other than the burger van there, though - again, a lot of our lads go on up to Ecclefechan simply because of the better food choice, when we’d really rather use the Fleece.

Final thought… Just recently you stocked an obscure metallically-painted brand of gas cartridge on the A19 instead of the usual matt blue or grey, although they seem to be phased out again now. PLEASE don’t stock them again, the added gas detection odour (as all cartridges have) is so strong and so rank it actually makes you gag when you fit the cartridge into a stove (they inevitably leak slightly then by design so you can tell when you’ve got a seal). They also don’t last as long. Ta. :wink:

47

why are all your female staff members forced to keep their tops on?

48

the permatanned one at whitwood, stacey i think gets on my wick, but the youngish one with the dark hair who cooks look, s a real horn dog, bet she,s a real laugh when she,s had a few, the poison dwarf is still off sick, so, u wont get told to ufeck of for a while, but all in all apart from londonshitty its pretty good

49

The Fleece

It’s time you came down hard on the ‘having-a-break-at-the-pump-whilst-having-a-chinwag-and-a-coffee’ crowd.

50

Dont know where you get that one from Andrew, it is regular practice to pull off the pump, and give enough room for the following truck to fill up, and get out at the fleece.
No doubt if someone had not followed the regulars protocol, a polite word in the ear would see you on your way.

51

agree with Lucy on the female toilets in the A19 north & south not done nights out in a long time so cant really comment on that

you could do with some showers tbh although it may be a bit close for me to get full use of them but would be appreciated

not been into Londonderry but have driven past it :wink:

The fleece have only stopped for fuel there and to meet a driver as had to collect part of his load

52

Hi everyone!

Thank you all for your comments.
In reponse to the comments we have arranged (so far) for the following ‘improvements’:

  1. We will be stocking a ‘more value for money’ sandwich range as from 1st March at A19 sites, Whitwood and Londonderry. the sandwich is made by Sandwich King and retails for £1.79
  2. We intend to offer a Meal Deal including the new range of sandwiches, in the very near future…watch this space!!!
  3. toilets - female hygiene services going into all sites, and the sites have implemented a improved cleaning regime.
  4. we have made staff aware of the problems of vehicles parking on the pumps and we will be encouraging drivers to pull forward to allow other drivers onto the pumps

keep your comments coming!

Antonie Hoyle
Sites Manager
Exelby Services Limited

53

The 25p voucher offer worked for me. I collected quite few and it got me into Londonderry and the Fleece.

Staff great.

One thing which I dont think has been mentioned, and it may seem trivial to some but can the pump nozzles be checked more often (Londonderry)? Too often you cant “click” them on and have to search for a bit of wood to wedge them open or just stand there and squeeze. Its Knacks my hands after about 250 litres, being a weakling! I dont seem to have this problem at The Fleece.

Surely Londonderry Cafe is probably one of, if not THE only old style lorry drivers cafes left, and as such should be treated with respect when it gets its facelift. It has a lot of history, and I personally wouldnt like yet another a glass and stainless steel structure in its place. Rather a building which is sympathetic to the heritage of the site.

Thanks for inviting our comments.

54

not my favourite places to stop but a long long way from the worst. the only thing they need is some money spending on them but until then i’ll keep popping in.

55

We only have ourselves to blame now

roadtransport.com/Articles/2 … eeming.htm

We were asked what we wanted and the answers were forthcoming, congratulations to Michael Exelby for taking the bull by the horns and offering a new facility.

May your business continue to be a success sir.

56

The stuff said here has definately been taken on board. The small improvements I asked for on the A19 are mostly in place. :wink:

57

The guy is prepared to put his money where his mouth is, and we can do the guy a favour and give him our business, even if your like me and just a day driver.

Well done that man. May it be a great success. :smiley:

Ken.

58

Hi All

Following on from your comments we now have plans for showers to be installed into our A19 sites. So hopefully we will get this sorted for you all soon. Just a few issues to resolve but we accept that the request for showers at the A19 sites was an important one.

We now offer a lot more shop promotions at the A19(Teesside), Golden Fleece(Carlisle), Whitwood (Castleford) and Londonderry - are these promotions satisfactory?

A19 south now has an off licence which has proved successful.

I would be interested on your comments about the changes we have made ie if they have actually made a difference to the quality of service provided.
Please let me know!

thanks

59

bag houses. they would come in handy.
free head voucher for 500 litres of diesel.

60

I don’t get up that way unless it’s in the car but it is refreshing to see drivers being consulted for once. I will stop when passing in the car just to keep an eye on things! :wink:

P.S. I like Ginsters pasties!