Just a curiosity. Got a couple of hours to kill before a booking time so thought I’d kill some at Thurrock Services. Lorry parks totally full so the only place to put it is in the coach bays with a few others. Parked bang opposite the COACH PARKING ONLY sign threatening me with £100 fine. Made me think… Anyone ever had any problems parking here? You see wagons parked here all the time. It says its because of health and safety but that’s a load of ■■■■. I was at Fleet services the other day and a fleet of German coaches came in. Out of all the hgv spaces coaches must have been taking up 2/3 of them. ■■■■■■ me right off.
ive parked in these coach bays a few times granted only been for 45 min break.
think they allow overnight parking there and they place a few cones over the end few bays with warning signs on.
see it all; the time though trucks in coach bays overnight. and during the day. amd cant say ever heard of anyone being fined.
Bet the german tourist loved stepping in the ■■■■ filled tyre trenches, inhaling the stench with every breath. I try avoid anything at all to do with the services, try to avoid even having a 15 there because they revolt me that much
bristolrob:
Bet the german tourist loved stepping in the ■■■■ filled tyre trenches, inhaling the stench with every breath. I try avoid anything at all to do with the services, try to avoid even having a 15 there because they revolt me that much
In fairness a German may well be in their element in a trench 
Our lot often park in coach bays overnight when loaded, due to ab load bay being occupied by some ignorant ■■■■■ who can’t seem to read. Never had any fine come through.
I stayed at a German motorway services a while ago, all so clean and high quality food, free parking too, and all enough room for everyone. I wonder what they must think when they stop at Thurrock
They may think they are in a third world country.
They may be right.
Twiglet015:
It says its because of health and safety but that’s a load of [zb].
Put yourself in the coach drivers shoes, they will want to park near the entrance for the comfort & safety of their passengers. Especially, if you have a load of old dears on board or school kids.
If the coach drivers knew this was going to be a problem at Thurrock Services because wagons are always hogging all the spaces near the entrance, they are going to learn to try and swerve the place which is a disaster for an MSA’s revenue.
Coach parking is for coaches only. Can you imagine what would happen if a few coaches parked in the lorry park?
Anytime I go into donington services the coach bays are all full of trucks especially car transporters and I know a guy who always parks in the coach bays because he can usally get the free wifi from the building
jakethesnake:
Coach parking is for coaches only. Can you imagine what would happen if a few coaches parked in the lorry park?
Ok, and somebody should tell the caravaners that the truck park is for trucks also.
First thing you see on the lhs in Cullompton MSA for eg, is a caravan parking area, but no they have to go past that and park in the (limited) truck area instead 
, and in the summer months you’ve got Bob Hope of getting a spot.
Those little foreign puddle jumping thundercnuts are the worst, doesn’t matter where you park you’ll find a couple each taking up a truck slot, then you have Johnny Foreigner who decides to drop his trailer in one slot and park unit only in the next.
robroy:
jakethesnake:
Coach parking is for coaches only. Can you imagine what would happen if a few coaches parked in the lorry park?Ok, and somebody should tell the caravaners that the truck park is for trucks also.
First thing you see on the lhs in Cullompton MSA for eg, is a caravan parking area, but no they have to go past that and park in the (limited) truck area instead
It’s not just Cullompton this happens at.
Ken.
Sploom:
I stayed at a German motorway services a while ago, all so clean and high quality food, free parking too, and all enough room for everyone. I wonder what they must think when they stop at Thurrock
Please tell me where ! been searching Germany 30 years now and still havent found it 
Sploom:
I stayed at a German motorway services a while ago, all so clean and high quality food, free parking too, and all enough room for everyone. I wonder what they must think when they stop at Thurrock
In my limited Euro experience I can safely say everywhere is rammed from 4:30pm and that’s why the slip roads in/out of the services get parked on and lorries park long ways behind the rows of full spaces.
I can’t remember to be honest, I’ve drove my car round Europe down to Switzerland and all the way to Romania and Hungary, I can only say the service areas just seemed to be better on the continent.
I stayed at a hotel in Germany at the motorway service area not far from the Austrian border and I left my ipad there, they posted it back free of charge all the way to England.
It would have been on route 3 somewhere round Deggendorf going towards Regensburg, any of those service areas looked really good quality to me with lots of parking, good food.
robroy:
jakethesnake:
Coach parking is for coaches only. Can you imagine what would happen if a few coaches parked in the lorry park?Ok, and somebody should tell the caravaners that the truck park is for trucks also.
First thing you see on the lhs in Cullompton MSA for eg, is a caravan parking area, but no they have to go past that and park in the (limited) truck area instead
On the subject of wobble box jockies…
When I went to park up at Stirling MSA for a 45 last Tuesday, about a quarter of the spaces in the lorry park was taken up by caravans, presumably en-route to clog up the roads in the Highlands. One in particular had his sticking out in such a way that a lot of artics had great trouble maneuvering behind him.
Garbo2018:
robroy:
jakethesnake:
Coach parking is for coaches only. Can you imagine what would happen if a few coaches parked in the lorry park?Ok, and somebody should tell the caravaners that the truck park is for trucks also.
First thing you see on the lhs in Cullompton MSA for eg, is a caravan parking area, but no they have to go past that and park in the (limited) truck area insteadOn the subject of wobble box jockies…
When I went to park up at Stirling MSA for a 45 last Tuesday, about a quarter of the spaces in the lorry park was taken up by caravans, presumably en-route to clog up the roads in the Highlands. One in particular had his sticking out in such a way that a lot of artics had great trouble maneuvering behind him.
You do realise that the obvious response to that is “if the lorry drivers were better they wouldn’t be struggling”.
Met one smart driver who parked across the forecourt completely blocking all the pumps of Woodhall Services so had no chance of even getting in to fuel up, even the guy in garage was looking for the driver. What makes me laugh about it was the lorry park was empty on Bank Holiday weekend.
I do it, sometimes you have to. Before there was Exelby, the only way you could get into Wetherby was by using the coach bays.
If the services only have a caravan or coach bay available i’m in it. I’m not parking in a layby ready to get raped by the white transit community.
Gretna is strange as I always use the lorry bays and never use the coach bays. However they are always rammed with Screwfix and B&Q in every coach bay. Sometimes they’ll dump a trailer, other times just Park up.
Thankfully I’ve never received a fine, as I only use them when the place is rammed.