I have just obtained work as a tramper starting 6th Jan 2014 - however Im a bit out of touch with safe parking laybys, cafes, etc as I haven`t tramped for about 8 years!!
Anyone know of a printable on line guide or a TomTom poi file that might help■■?
My plan is to layby maybe 2 - 3 nights and cafe / truckstop the rest of the week.
Thanks
This any good?
hgvparking.com/
Or
truckanddriver.co.uk/truckstop-map/
From here 
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=67567
I hope that you will also be utilising that intermediate callsign while out and about as well.
Ken.G8FSO.
Going back to my days over there I would never park in any layby except when I worked for ‘Concord road Shows’ but even then it would have to be very close to a pub, my trailer had hot and cold running water, 3 TV’s a fridge and cooking facilities so a short walk to a pub was all that was required.
Living here I would never spend a night in a rest area, there are too many stories of guys being robbed, even murdered and they are usually frequented by homosexuals (just like the UK then LOL). I only stop at truck stops, service areas with security and facilities such as 24 hour food etc or a customers or terminal and even then it would have to have available food and facilities.
Radio Bill 2E0:
I have just obtained work as a tramper starting 6th Jan 2014 - however Im a bit out of touch with safe parking laybys, cafes, etc as I haven`t tramped for about 8 years!!
Anyone know of a printable on line guide or a TomTom poi file that might help■■?
My plan is to layby maybe 2 - 3 nights and cafe / truckstop the rest of the week.
Thanks
Hey up pal firstly congrats on the job who’s it with?
Try hgvparking.com I use that all the time and you can add your own too (add with caution) I added a nice little spot like a plank next time I went couldn’t get anywhere near it!!
Pat Hasler:
Going back to my days over there I would never park in any layby except when I worked for ‘Concord road Shows’ but even then it would have to be very close to a pub, my trailer had hot and cold running water, 3 TV’s a fridge and cooking facilities so a short walk to a pub was all that was required.
Living here I would never spend a night in a rest area, there are too many stories of guys being robbed, even murdered and they are usually frequented by homosexuals (just like the UK then LOL). I only stop at truck stops, service areas with security and facilities such as 24 hour food etc or a customers or terminal and even then it would have to have available food and facilities.
sure that was a great help to the op
Ask your employer to sign up to a Snap account.The driver does not pay to park.
Your boss gets an invoice to pay later.Some places you just give them the truck number plate details,and that is it.
Free Truckstop News magazine has current lists of parking places.A few on the Snap list are pre-booking before arrival as they may be transport yards and may reserve a space to park.
J38 at Tebay is well known for home cooked food.
Crewe truckstop on Cowley Way has a decent cafe and two family restaurants within walking distance and the town is full of eateries.
The Hollies off J 12 M6 is very popular.The food is very good.
Heywood truckstop Manchester,secure and good cafe.Pilsworth road.
Avonmouth Avon Lodge Bristol or free parking ariund Third Way.
Lincoln Farm Cafe B92 OLS off J 6 M42.
200 trucks a night.24 hour shower and loo block open.
Very kind owners/staff.Good bar and big showers.
Tom tom has a truck stop and truck lay by poi. Search on the tomtom site.
for the past 2 years ive been working for firms that pay parking and ive paid parking twice, everytime i park in the services or so called " truckstops " ive been woken up by lorries running their engines or ive had my curtains cut.
i have a thought …
if you wanted to steal a carrot would you go round individual gardens looking for a veg patch or would just got straight to an allotment and help your self. 
i.e
if you want to steal from lorries would you round quiet estates and areas on the off chance or go straight to the so called " secure parking "
another thing is, i think some of the crime is done by other drivers.
Quinny:
I hope that you will also be utilising that intermediate callsign while out and about as well.Ken.G8FSO.
I will be doing so Ken on 2 and 70`s.
73,
Bill
Many thanks to all of you for your help - I am looking forward to my new job.
Jacks Cafe off the A43 by Brackley/Towcester is a decent stop.Large portions of good food.Showers.They get motorbike rallies in there.
Newhaven docks is free parking.
If stuck there for a while,bus or train to Brighton or Eastbourne.
Folkestone is very popular.Pay to park in the old hoverport.Nightclubs next to it and town facilities.
Lockerbie is a good one.
Junction 26 off the M25 Waltham Abbey is good food but fills up fast.Parking is mud and dirt.
Download the mway buddy app for your smart phone. Shows truck stops all over the country.
Radio Bill 2E0:
Quinny:
I hope that you will also be utilising that intermediate callsign while out and about as well.Ken.G8FSO.
I will be doing so Ken on 2 and 70`s.
73,
Bill
Good man.
Shout up on GB3YW when you pass through West Yorkshire.
Ken.
Pat Hasler:
Going back to my days over there I would never park in any layby except when I worked for ‘Concord road Shows’ but even then it would have to be very close to a pub, my trailer had hot and cold running water, 3 TV’s a fridge and cooking facilities so a short walk to a pub was all that was required.
Living here I would never spend a night in a rest area, there are too many stories of guys being robbed, even murdered and they are usually frequented by homosexuals (just like the UK then LOL). I only stop at truck stops, service areas with security and facilities such as 24 hour food etc or a customers or terminal and even then it would have to have available food and facilities.
I’m the opposite way around. I’ll often shower in a truckstop and then go down the road and park in a rest area or even outside a customer as I’m sick of the endless noise in American truckstops and idiots ripping off my front grille and bumper as they reverse in or pull out in the morning. In those sorts of places I can never sleep properly because every time I see the flashing of hazard lights coming under the curtains or hear the reversing beeper I’m on edge and can’t relax until they’re in next to me, only to hear them drive off again an hour later and the whole thing to be repeated. Many truckstops are fine but there are still too many of them that were obviously built with 48’ trailers and cabovers in mind. The poxy Flying J in Winchester, VA being the worst example of such a place in my experience so far where its physically impossible to leave in the morning if you have a truck either side and vehicles parked opposite.
what I did was this
set a café / parking POI on Sat Nav
then when you pass when that’s looks ok load it.
I also put cafes on that advertised in the mags
or were recommended on here
its a bit time consuming but useful
VA; Virginia.
Robin, have you driven over the mountains in North and South Carolina.I slept in a sleeping bag by the rental car in freezing conditions.I did wonder how a grizzly bear could have bitten my head off in the night.
I rode my Kenny Roberts Yamaha RZ 350 YPVS over Alligator Alley from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa and St Pete.
Have you done that route in a rig?
In the truck would you time to visit Yosemite,■■■■■■■■■■■■ and other tourist sites?
At 16 years old i lived in Laingsburg MI,dairy farming then down to Cooper City,FLA.
Young Farmers Visa Exchange Programme on a JI visa.
There was the chance to work on the cross country combine teams.Long hours.Low pay.But amazing experience.
toby1234abc:
VA; Virginia.
Robin, have you driven over the mountains in North and South Carolina.I slept in a sleeping bag by the rental car in freezing conditions.I did wonder how a grizzly bear could have bitten my head off in the night.
I rode my Kenny Roberts Yamaha RZ 350 YPVS over Alligator Alley from Fort Lauderdale to Tampa and St Pete.
Have you done that route in a rig?
In the truck would you time to visit Yosemite,■■■■■■■■■■■■ and other tourist sites?
At 16 years old i lived in Laingsburg MI,dairy farming then down to Cooper City,FLA.
Young Farmers Visa Exchange Programme on a JI visa.
There was the chance to work on the cross country combine teams.Long hours.Low pay.But amazing experience.
I’ve criss crossed North and South Carolina many dozens of times, the mountainous areas in the west or NC are certainly a very scenic place to drive through, even on the interstate.
I’ve never crossed aligator alley yet, I’ve been down both sides of Florida quite a few times but never had cause to cross east to west or vice versa that far south.
As for seeing tourist stuff, yes sometimes. I’ve had a tour bus collect me from a truckstop in Salt Lake City, Utah so that I could visit the largest copper mine in the world and go down to see the Great Salt Lake. I’ve hired a car in Portland, Oregon to tour the pacific coast, and I’ve hired a car in Idaho Falls, Idaho and spent two days with my now wife touring Montana and the Yellowstone national park in Wyoming and I’ve done the same in Lodi, California and headed in to San Francisco which included a cruise under the Golden Gate Bridge and around the island and prison at Alcatraz and later in the day I drove out of San Francisco at dusk, going the long way round just so I could say I’ve driven over the Golden Gate.
Three times the Broward and Dade County Sherrif department nearly shot me.They mistook me for a robber and loitering.It is a surreal experience having a rifle or high calibre pistol being aimed at you.Being frisked by a female cop was pleasant as the underwear is checked for a weapon.
Aye i know its not UK, but robinhood is correct about the reversing over here its awful!!
dont remember if i mentioned it before but watch out for the unit parked at the back o the bays next to an empty space …you start to reverse in and low and behold the unit moves up and they claim you have hit their truck( and they cant speak very good English).
yes i was caught out by this once in Calgary doing a blind side reverse into a space between 2 units.
they had the vehicle asseser on speed dial ,he wa sout in 15mins…drivers no speak english only* insurance now* boss man turns up in a car as i am getting out o my cab handing me a preprinted piece saying i was liable to all damage to the truck sign NOW
shinning bright i am .
long story short …cops turn up the "drivers " no where to be found and talked to the assesor about no damage /scratches on my trailer …got a card of the cop handed it in to my office ,never heard another thing about it!.
seems it was a thing our foreign friends do.
jimmy