Parking Motorway services is highway robbery?

Copy of email sent maybe if we get enough of us emailing the same they may well expose them!

panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk;

I would like Panorama to investigate the parking facilities on offer at the motorway services for the LGV Drivers. With the drivers having to take up to 9 hours daily rest as a legal requirement the cost of parking at these motorway services are ridiculously high for the lack of facilities…

In Confidence

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you have more of chance knitting fog if you think msa will drop there prices they will tell you it is private land and if you want to use it you pay if not layby or ind est

hanson:
you have more of chance knitting fog if you think msa will drop there prices they will tell you it is private land and if you want to use it you pay if not layby or ind est

Yeah thanks for your input from a fellow professional driver :unamused: and we wonder why this country is in the state it’s in wasn’t actually asking for the pricing to be dropped was asking for them to investigate and look into the conditions and facilities that are on offer at these motorway services!!! so that we are not driven in to having to use lay-bys or off street parking…

hanson:
you have more of chance knitting fog if you think msa will drop there prices they will tell you it is private land and if you want to use it you pay if not layby or ind est

It’s because of this , "don’t bother, nothing will happen " attitude that so many drivers have these days , that nothing ever gets sorted in our favour.
What will it hurt to press a few keys then press send.
Do it just to show how p’d off you all are. If nothing gets sorted you’ve wasted a few minutes of your precious time. But hey , how happy will you be if it is brought to light in front of the general public. It could be to their benefit too, lots of ordinary motorists ( more fool them lol) stop for a meal break there too.
And then there’s the rip off price of the fuel there too, but hey that’s another e.mail
Let all of us start somewhere, then may be , just may be, we can get these rip off zb’s to drop their prices across the board
In my opinion not a wast of time at all - mine has been sent

pierrot 14:

hanson:
you have more of chance knitting fog if you think msa will drop there prices they will tell you it is private land and if you want to use it you pay if not layby or ind est

It’s because of this , "don’t bother, nothing will happen " attitude that so many drivers have these days , that nothing ever gets sorted in our favour.
What will it hurt to press a few keys then press send.
Do it just to show how p’d off you all are. If nothing gets sorted you’ve wasted a few minutes of your precious time. But hey , how happy will you be if it is brought to light in front of the general public. It could be to their benefit too, lots of ordinary motorists ( more fool them lol) stop for a meal break there too.
And then there’s the rip off price of the fuel there too, but hey that’s another e.mail
Let all of us start somewhere, then may be , just may be, we can get these rip off zb’s to drop their prices across the board
In my opinion not a wast of time at all - mine has been sent

Well said and thanks - let’s at least try and give the younger generation of drivers a better standard!

confused.com/news-views/blog … er20130617

What is it , a petition to sign? It’s a start got nothing to lose

Smoggie89:
What is it , a petition to sign? It’s a start got nothing to lose

Just send an email to
panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk; Just may get something started nothing to lose.

its a business. A business charges what it can get away with not what its worth. Sad but true. Competition drives prices down. There is no competition.

midlifetrucker:
its a business. A business charges what it can get away with not what its worth. Sad but true. Competition drives prices down. There is no competition.

Very true.

Thing is, what incentive is there for someone to set up a truck stop these days? Firstly, the locals won’t want it in the area so planning permission/opposition would be a nightmare. This is why councils don’t have lorry parks very much, it’s less hassle for us to be out of the way in a layby. Then, there is the fact that many drivers would probably choose to spend minimal money within the truck stop, just use the showers and toilet then spend the rest of the time locked up in the cab.

Unless you just so happen to have a big plot of land tucked away from a residential area that you can start charging people a few quid to park on, it’s not a smart business venture imo.

The easiest way is to refuse to pay!

Any demands for payment should be returned with a copy of Driver’s Hours Regulations attached, a letter explaining that the only reason your vehicle is parked is because the law says it has to.

In that letter you could also mention that the inflated prices they charge are more than enough to cover the cost of poorly maintained parking areas and the almost complete absence of facilities and security.

They cannot clamp or otherwise immobilise your lorry anymore, so ■■■■ the lot of them, if everybody did it the admin costs would far outweigh the money they would get and they’ll give it up.

The only reason they charge at all is because people are prepared to pay!

Britain is still the only country that I know of that charges for overnight parking, time to grow a pair and tell the MSAs to poke it.

Top & bottom of it is MSA’s don’t want trucks on at all, but they have a legal/planning obligation to provide truck parking.

Look where it usually is - as far away from the facilities as possible. Many drivers are self sufficient (especially foreigners) and don’t spend money in the shop & restaurant.
The high charges are to try to keep us away from chewing up their tarmac.

When did anyone last see an MSA spending the money collected from overnight lorry parking on resurfacing the lorry park?

Clacket Lane is the most expensive at £30.For that you get a£11 meal voucher which is two main meals.Parking in Europe is free.But some sre charging.Lyon has a secure compound but nect door is free on the toll road parking area.
In the James Bond film the car had number plates that the driver switched over the numbers and letters to change it like a Rubicks cube to confuse the ANPR at Uk Msa’s.
You could alter the number plate to someone you do.not like so thry get the invoice while you parked for free.

I honestly think that Panorama should look into the hours allowed to be worked in the haulage industry, this in conjunction with a poor infrastructure regarding rest areas in this country could make for a very damning picture of the industry.
They should also do the usual reflex tests after a driver has been on duty for 14 hours with poor rest.

It would open a lot of eyes in the UK.

If the text in the OP is what you sent, do you not think that they may take it more seriously if the facts were correct??

Clamping has now been outlawed, so we know that’s not a problem. All they can do if you refuse to pay is send a nasty letter that has as much legal clout as paddingtons hard stare.
If they decide to charge an initial parking fee of over £35.00 or ramp the initial fee up with extra charges that exceed £35.00, Then they will have to give you a 5 day cooling off period.
This means that you will have up to 5 days to cancel your agreement to pay for parking. That’s works out prety well, You’ll be gone in about 9 hours. :laughing:
Cooling off periods only apply if it is a business to a person, not business to business. So drivers are covered, but owners drivers are not.

mastesallan:
Copy of email sent maybe if we get enough of us emailing the same they may well expose them!

panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk;

I would like Panorama to investigate the parking facilities on offer at the motorway services for the LGV Drivers. With the drivers having to take up to 9 hours daily rest as a legal requirement the cost of parking at these motorway services are ridiculously high for the lack of facilities…

In Confidence

If there is a story you would like Panorama to investigate then you can e-mail or write to us.

Please be clear and concise as to the nature of the information you have and mark the title of the e-mail as “confidential”.

Understandably some of you might prefer to remain anonymous. If that is the case then please write “In Confidence” in the subject heading of an e-mail or in any correspondence you may want to send us.

You can also contact us if you have fresh information that could assist a Panorama investigation.

Because of the number of e-mails we receive we are unable to read or reply to all of them individually. If however we think the information you have sent us would make a good story but is not suitable for Panorama, with your permission, we may forward it to a more relevant part of the BBC .

Our e-mail address is: panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk

Waste of time. Panorama = is the problem in the general public’s interests? Conditions for lorry drivers at MSAs? No = won’t see the light of day.

Like someone else has already pointed out, MSAs don’t want trucks at all. They only provide parking for us because legally they have to. If the legislation didn’t exist then I reckon the majority of MSAs would have a complete ban on trucks.

No harm in highlighting the problem and chucking your views into the cauldron.

Though in practice the MSA’s are rammed at all hours of the day, and almost impossible to find a parking space at night.
If the parking was cheaper or even free you’d never get a look in.

The lorry parking problem is just another symptom of a country full to bursting point with people, population has increased at a fanstastic rate from the day Tony Blair and his cohorts decided to turn Britain into a Labour voting multicultural hell hole, the electorate must have wanted it as they voted for him time and time again.

If you’re servicing the needs of an extra 10 million people without massively increasing the infrastructure then lots of things are going to give, NHS, Schools, Housing, Welfare, Roads, Public Transport…none of these can cope so a bunch of unwanted despised scum bag lorry drivers like us are not going to feature very highly on their priorities.

Thats not defeatism, thats the reality of the results of unlimited immigration that YOU voted for when you voted Labour Liberal or Conservative.

Carry on doing so and it’ll be another 10 million by 2050.

You’re a trucker mate, get over it. You should have kit with you to get you through the week with no facilities on offer. The cost of parking is down to your firm to pass on to the customer.

newmercman:
The easiest way is to refuse to pay!

Any demands for payment should be returned with a copy of Driver’s Hours Regulations attached, a letter explaining that the only reason your vehicle is parked is because the law says it has to.

In that letter you could also mention that the inflated prices they charge are more than enough to cover the cost of poorly maintained parking areas and the almost complete absence of facilities and security.

They cannot clamp or otherwise immobilise your lorry anymore, so [zb] the lot of them, if everybody did it the admin costs would far outweigh the money they would get and they’ll give it up.

The only reason they charge at all is because people are prepared to pay!

Britain is still the only country that I know of that charges for overnight parking, time to grow a pair and tell the MSAs to poke it.

Best of luck with this venture. MSA charges are scandalous. I have been clamped at MSA when I stayed at the restaurant and failed to display my ticket (resolved ok). I (agency) always say that I always stay in MSAs and that client must pay for it. No one seems to object so I am indifferent. Safe, secure and comfortable (food and lavs) parking has implications for HSE, road safety, criminal activity and the country’s economic and commercial welfare. Union appears to lobby ineffectually for improvements. I would welcome a mass demo.