Not something that I’ve thought about much for many years, but a couple of coincidences recently made me ponder.
First there was a petition on change.org for better facilities for drivers, so I added my tick to the box. Probably a mistake - I now get 3 or 4 emails a week asking me to vote on something!
Now I’m reading a book which involves a filling station in 1930s USA, and one of the thing they did to attract custom was to keep the lavatories scrupulously clean.
In the late sixties/early seventies, the motorway services were usually reasonable, but some of the other cafes were appalling.
I remember calling in at a cafe on the left, heading south from Lesmahagow - name forgotten. The food was reasonable, but the lavatory was definitely not good. As I was coming out, an American was coming in and I can remember feeling appalled that he might think I’d left it in that state - in fact, one look and I’d turned around.
Still, we weren’t as bad as the continentals. ‘Squats start at Calais!’ Hang onto the low door - to hold yourself up and stop anyone else entering.
I made myself a 3 legged ‘seat’, and found a quiet place on Middle East. Lots of lads laughed - and then borrowed it!
I guess from the change.org petition, not much has changed in the last 80 years!
I think sometimes the owners of transport cafes and truck stops give up
I can remember when the Stockyard first opened off the M18
After a couple of weeks the plugs from the sinks were being nicked
Toilets and showers being damaged then you wonder why the moaning starts about poor drivers facilities
that sounds like the old star cafe at lesmahagow john . i went in there one summers night and the flies were so bad i think they ate more of my food than i did . dave
rigsby:
that sounds like the old star cafe at lesmahagow john . i went in there one summers night and the flies were so bad i think they ate more of my food than i did . dave
That sounds like the one Dave! My shame was as much for Britain as for me personally - the guy’s on holiday - what would he tell his American friends about us?
Well nothings changed , I started driving long distance in the late 50s, And some of the old transport cafes were starting to modernise a bit at this time, But the plugs from the washbasins went r missing along with the light bulbs & even the toilet rolls plus the holders & bolts from the doors, Now who is to blame for these stupid actions may I ask, The people that use them, Of course whom were 90% drivers, I rest my case, Regards Larry.
I remember riding with Dad as a kid, it was very common for Dad to have a cuppa in a quarry mess room with the pit staff if he saw the shovels parked up (I was left in a shovel cab “driving” an old Bray ). Fast forward a few years and at the same company, drivers (even their own) are not welcome even not allowed in their employers mess rooms. I remember working as a shovel driver being told “don’t allow drivers in here” (the mess room). Smiths quarry at Ardley even has a notice in the weighbridge window saying “toilets and mess facilities are for quarry staff ONLY.” Not even Smiths own lorry drivers are allowed to use them.
Quite glad I was pushed out, my current boss leaves cider in the fridge in our yard (had a cold can of Carling lobbed into the digger whilst screening some topsoil this afternoon.
PS, ths bottle of Hobgoblin is as refreshing as the previous one, cheers.
Delivered to Crown Paints at Darwen, asked where the canteen was as it was lunchtime, oh we don’t allow lorry drivers in here I was told,when asked why no one could tell me.Since that day I have never bought Crown Paint and I never will. Complete opposite at Dowty at Cheltenham given a meal voucher and treated with respect!
maxhagar:
Delivered to Crown Paints at Darwen, asked where the canteen was as it was lunchtime, oh we don’t allow lorry drivers in here I was told,when asked why no one could tell me.Since that day I have never bought Crown Paint and I never will. Complete opposite at Dowty at Cheltenham given a meal voucher and treated with respect!
Well maxhagar there was a lot of places like that in those days, I remember delivering to Armstrong Cork at T.V.T.E, A full load of bagged material all handball, The lazy ■■■■■ in the goods receiving place said it should have been on pallets, And said I would have to put it onto their pallets, No problem I said, So the truck driver brought the pallets & the lazy gits stood talking to each other while I off loaded, When it was break time I went to the canteen asked for a breakfast, I was promptly told that these were for the workers only But I could have a cup of tea, I was livid, I said to the lady on the counter that she could the tea where the sun didn’t shine, & asked her what she did with all the food because there was no buggers there did any work, This was 1970, Regards Larry.
we used to go into fodens for repairs on one firm , book in at the garage and collect your meal voucher . if it was a long job we got another meal voucher for the next meal . whether it was breakfast lunch or tea the food was very good and plenty of it . i bet you don’t get that at volvo or scania or daf . dave
It seems ironic that one of the best transport cafes in the 70’s, the Elvanfoot cafe on the A 74, had the worst toilet facilities that I’ve ever seen. It was a breezeblock tardis, halfway across the moor. I only poked my head round the door the one time, but the image remains indelibly burned onto my brain to this day.
Without wishing to become embroiled in a political debate, it seems to me that facilities for drivers went into a downward spiral during the Thatcher years. With the closure of all the collieries, like Golborne, Bold, Sutton Manor, etc., where you could practically walk in off the street and get fed, the opportunity of getting a cheap, decent meal in their canteens disappeared.
At around about the same, quite a lot of the larger private companies that ran subsidised canteens, where you could get a meal for about three bob, started withdrawing the subsidy, and charging restaurant prices. Either that or they would close the canteen entirely and install one of those daft revolving machines that would regurgitate a tin of Coke or a Kit Kat for a quid a pop.
One of the best private canteens that I ever used however, was the one at Van den Bergh’s at Bromborough. The place was clean, and the food was good. It was cheap as well, and if you happened to be in there on Christmas Day, you got your dinner free.
Yes it is one of our main bodily functions and it was completely ignored by nearly all the cafes,warehouses, factories for visiting drivers and hosts of other establishments, as if we did not need a toilet. apparently in this day and age it is still going on in theses big so called hubs for freight and food.what a disgrace
It was normal in the 70,80s for me to not !use the toilets if possible, it was for more healthy to go behind the hedge, “not in the dark”
Entering in Europe for me in the 1980s toilets brought on another dimension, most service areas were acceptable ,The old squat .was ok never go in with FLIP FLOPS…or winter time at BORDER POSTS.
THE MOST HORRENDOUS i ever came across i am still traumatized was the T.I.R.PARK in PATRA and i had my wife with me and she had a stomach problem ,the cafe across the road was closed night time,no torch, just lighters.it was like a Elephant house in a zoo… Still a talking point.That is when the magic of the old plastic bag trick came into our lives…say no more…
Mind you,i know drivers that used to go silly when they had to pay the attendant especially in GERMANY and Belgium/lux, they did not get it,you paid for the clean hygiene ,imagine the uproar in our country if they introduce the return of the attendant ,for a small fee.AS THE SAYING GOES we are our own worse enemy
.Italy the system was good on the service stations yes you paid but clean . CARISO EXCELLENT.well was in the 90s…
At Ballidon Quarry, and some other Tilcon quarries in the Central area, anyone could get a decent cheap meal in a clean canteen with excellent toilet facilities. Kevin quarry did the best breakfast’s and Ballidon the best dinner’s. Mancetter was best avoided at one time but may have improved now, I went in there once during the 70’s for a bacon sarnie and the rasher was dragged across the tea soaked counter before it got to the pan!
I can vouch for the above,Pete, 'cos right up to the birth of her first son, some thirteen or so years ago, my daughter Lorraine ran the canteen at Ballidon.
I have to say facilities in Greece were fairly primitive during the 70’s and 80’s especially the custom of throwing the used toilet paper in an open bin next to the toilet. On the way to Piraeus after coming off the ferry at Patras one night I stopped in a big layby near the Corinth Canal, suddenly having to answer the call of nature I headed towards the two wooden Portaloo style toilets, one had no door so no 2 seemed the favorite, it was the ubiqitous hole in the ground but had a door and a light so I settled down to business, then I heard a large vehicle pull in followed by a lot of voices closely followed by the door which I thought was firmly shut swinging outwards leaving me illuminated from the light behind me in front of a busload of tourists.
On a different note facilities for truckers in the USA have improved greatly over the past few years with the advent of truckstop chains where the toilets are regularly checked and cleaned and loyalty cards which give you points for diesel that translate into free clean separate showers that are cleaned after each time, free coffee and points that cab be exchanged for food. Unfortunately some are affiliated with fast food joints like Mc Donalds and Wendys but there are a couple that have their own inhouse restaurants.
Yes CHAZZER I had forgotten that habit i expect they thought it was hygine. thier style.I would have thought the USA truck stops would be very good,however disrespectful people every where.F–ck you jack get on with it style.
Totally of piste, please tell me ,how on earth do the drivers on the tv series ice road truckers seem to do endless hours, with impunity ,also they never seem to have any emergency food or cooking facility. [yes i understand gas and cold ,not a good mix but there are other ways to heat up food do you cook if you are away in the middle of nowhere, ?
Ste46:
I can vouch for the above,Pete, 'cos right up to the birth of her first son, some thirteen or so years ago, my daughter Lorraine ran the canteen at Ballidon.
Steve
ste46 had loads of good meals at balidon over the years me and all the a.k transport lady were all ways in the canteen remember lorraine very she all ways looked after us drivers hope she is doing well best wishes rod .ex ak transport now at lomas still in ballidon seme job difrent t shirt
chazzer:
I have to say facilities in Greece were fairly primitive during the 70’s and 80’s especially the custom of throwing the used toilet paper in an open bin next to the toilet.
I remember staying in a small hotel in Southern Turkey for a couple of nights in 1976. I can’t remember why, but must have had a problem, because I always stayed in the truck. I got a bollocking off the chambermaid for putting the toilet paper in the lavatory and told I must use the bin (as in Greece) the idea of which revolted me. Apparently the waste pipes were only small bore, unable to cope with paper and I had blocked the system, causing her a lot of trouble.
I presume the plumbing has changed a bit since, certainly in the resorts, but probably not the locals’ way of doing things. They '‘washed’ first - on the basis that s*** doesn’t stick to a wet surface - and after, and considered our way unclean.
chazzer:
I have to say facilities in Greece were fairly primitive during the 70’s and 80’s especially the custom of throwing the used toilet paper in an open bin next to the toilet.
I remember staying in a small hotel in Southern Turkey for a couple of nights in 1976. I can’t remember why, but must have had a problem, because I always stayed in the truck. I got a bollocking off the chambermaid for putting the toilet paper in the lavatory and told I must use the bin (as in Greece) the idea of which revolted me. Apparently the waste pipes were only small bore, unable to cope with paper and I had blocked the system, causing her a lot of trouble.
I presume the plumbing has changed a bit since, certainly in the resorts, but probably not the locals’ way of doing things. They '‘washed’ first - on the basis that s*** doesn’t stick to a wet surface - and after, and considered our way unclean.
John
The awful bins are still in use in Turkey but at least they have pedal operated lids in most places to keep the aroma down!
). Fast forward a few years and at the same company, drivers (even their own) are not welcome even not allowed in their employers mess rooms. I remember working as a shovel driver being told “don’t allow drivers in here” (the mess room). Smiths quarry at Ardley even has a notice in the weighbridge window saying “toilets and mess facilities are for quarry staff ONLY.” Not even Smiths own lorry drivers are allowed to use them.
