every couple of days someone points out how dreadful the RDC’s are to deliver to and the way drivers get treated in the UK so i thought i’d let you know what some are like here in spain, well todays tip anyway.
I’m in Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, (about the same as tesco in the UK).
booking time 12.00 so i arrive at 10am, nice lady in the gatehouse says “you’re early” i reply “better than late” she laughs but i think she’s heard that plenty of times before.
she points out the ample parking inside the RDC for waiting trucks and says I’m to come back to the gatehouse at 11.45 for my bay number meanwhile its OK to use the facilities.
the facilities are a well cleaned toilet and shower room plus access to the on site cafeteria at the same price as all the staff so i’ve just had bacon and eggs with coffee for 3 euros plus a nice shower
To be fair though one good Spanish RDC doesn’t mean they all are. And I’ve been to RDCs in the UK with ample parking and use of the canteen. I’ve been to awful nightmare RDCs in both the UK and mainland Europe.
welshboyinspain:
every couple of days someone points out how dreadful the RDC’s are to deliver to and the way drivers get treated in the UK so i thought i’d let you know what some are like here in spain, well todays tip anyway.
I’m in Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, (about the same as tesco in the UK).
booking time 12.00 so i arrive at 10am, nice lady in the gatehouse says “you’re early” i reply “better than late” she laughs but i think she’s heard that plenty of times before.
she points out the ample parking inside the RDC for waiting trucks and says I’m to come back to the gatehouse at 11.45 for my bay number meanwhile its OK to use the facilities.
the facilities are a well cleaned toilet and shower room plus access to the on site cafeteria at the same price as all the staff so i’ve just had bacon and eggs with coffee for 3 euros plus a nice shower
why can’t the UK RDC’s not do the same??
I have done many RDC’s over the years and have found most euro one’s very acceptable with the odd bad one, and most UK one’s unacceptable with the odd good one what more is there to say.
Enjoy you hols WBIS.
thanks thetourist i shall enjoy my hols as best i can tipped the RDC loaded barcelona for cordoba and 2 x malaga so fri afternoon should be on the cerveza and saturday on the plane to cardiff
welshboyinspain:
thanks thetourist i shall enjoy my hols as best i can tipped the RDC loaded barcelona for cordoba and 2 x malaga so fri afternoon should be on the cerveza and saturday on the plane to cardiff
I was in Amsterdam yesterday, though not to an RDC. I delivered a gas turbine to a company that refined grain into cooking oils.
I arrived around 0200 local time…(Thanks Antwerp/ Kennedy Tunnel roadworks )
The gates were closed, but there were spaces allocated outside for about 20 trucks, and under cctv surveillance.
When I went to reception to book in, there was a fresh, hot coffee pot at the window. Along with fresh milk.
“Help yourself” say’s the guy at the window.
“The facilities are upstairs if you need to freshen up”.
A tale of two loads :
Load 1: somewhere in central England:
Good morning i have 15 pallets for you.
“wait in your cab”
Load 2: somewhere in central Europe :
Good morning i have 15 pallets for you.
“please put your truck on door 7 then you may go to the small door on the left where you will find fresh coffee and the bathroom”
The end.
I am not knocking England i am just telling you a very true story. unfortunately this is happening more and more and there is no need for it. It costs nothing to be pleasant even if your having a bad day don’t spread it around…
Its not all good over the water, I’ve done a lot of french RDC’s and every 1 of them has been far worse than any UK RDC without doubt.
I went to costco on magna park this morning and was quite pleased with that, I was 3 hours early, went straight onto a bay, into the waiting room, had a bacon sarnie and a brew from the purpose built cafe they have next to the waiting room and was away from there in just over an hour having tipped 17 pallets of chilled.
welshboyinspain:
every couple of days someone points out how dreadful the RDC’s are to deliver to and the way drivers get treated in the UK so i thought i’d let you know what some are like here in spain, well todays tip anyway.
I’m in Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, (about the same as tesco in the UK).
booking time 12.00 so i arrive at 10am, nice lady in the gatehouse says “you’re early” i reply “better than late” she laughs but i think she’s heard that plenty of times before.
she points out the ample parking inside the RDC for waiting trucks and says I’m to come back to the gatehouse at 11.45 for my bay number meanwhile its OK to use the facilities.
the facilities are a well cleaned toilet and shower room plus access to the on site cafeteria at the same price as all the staff so i’ve just had bacon and eggs with coffee for 3 euros plus a nice shower
why can’t the UK RDC’s not do the same??
Well now I might have an answer for you.
Some time ago there was a pic of an absolutely disgusting drivers toilet at a UK RDC. Broken seat, brown stains all over it, including the walls. The implication of the pic was, how can we be expected to use facilities like this?
My second thought was, how did it get into that state?
Let me guess, is it possible DRIVERS made it into that state?
I think that toilet was at a new RDC, opened a week or so before that picture was taken.
Is there a possibility that RDCs have decided not to supply good facilities, because they simply get abused and vandalised by the very people who had been given these facilities? Not everyone abuses them obviously, but enough do. Staff canteen facilities are usually withdrawn after members of staff get tired of abuse from drivers. Some chains didn’t just withdraw the privilege at one site, they withdrew it at every site. Some chains, its up to the site manager.
Some sites I’ve used, one week you can use the canteen, two weeks later you can’t. A few months later, we can, then its withdrawn again. The reason stated for the withdrawal ? Abusive drivers. almost always British.
I’m pretty sure that everyone is afforded the same hospitality at Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, wherever they come from. I’m also pretty sure that everything is how you would like to find it and left in much the same condition it was found in.
I find it rather strange that Arabic or Eastern block drivers coming to the UK become raving lunatics. Stealing fixtures and fittings from showers etc, spreading excrement up walls and similar activities. Yet they don’t do it in any other country in Europe. Not to the extent they do it here at least.
There are bad apples in every barrel, I’m not thinking that every foreign driver is an angel. But, there are truckstops all across Europe that many British drivers prefer to use. There are also many British drivers tramping around Europe who avoid those truckstops because so many British drivers use them.
Draw your own conclusion.
welshboyinspain:
every couple of days someone points out how dreadful the RDC’s are to deliver to and the way drivers get treated in the UK so i thought i’d let you know what some are like here in spain, well todays tip anyway.
I’m in Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, (about the same as tesco in the UK).
booking time 12.00 so i arrive at 10am, nice lady in the gatehouse says “you’re early” i reply “better than late” she laughs but i think she’s heard that plenty of times before.
she points out the ample parking inside the RDC for waiting trucks and says I’m to come back to the gatehouse at 11.45 for my bay number meanwhile its OK to use the facilities.
the facilities are a well cleaned toilet and shower room plus access to the on site cafeteria at the same price as all the staff so i’ve just had bacon and eggs with coffee for 3 euros plus a nice shower
why can’t the UK RDC’s not do the same??
Well now I might have an answer for you.
Some time ago there was a pic of an absolutely disgusting drivers toilet at a UK RDC. Broken seat, brown stains all over it, including the walls. The implication of the pic was, how can we be expected to use facilities like this?
My second thought was, how did it get into that state?
Let me guess, is it possible DRIVERS made it into that state?
I think that toilet was at a new RDC, opened a week or so before that picture was taken.
Is there a possibility that RDCs have decided not to supply good facilities, because they simply get abused and vandalised by the very people who had been given these facilities? Not everyone abuses them obviously, but enough do. Staff canteen facilities are usually withdrawn after members of staff get tired of abuse from drivers. Some chains didn’t just withdraw the privilege at one site, they withdrew it at every site. Some chains, its up to the site manager.
Some sites I’ve used, one week you can use the canteen, two weeks later you can’t. A few months later, we can, then its withdrawn again. The reason stated for the withdrawal ? Abusive drivers. almost always British.
I’m pretty sure that everyone is afforded the same hospitality at Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, wherever they come from. I’m also pretty sure that everything is how you would like to find it and left in much the same condition it was found in.
I find it rather strange that Arabic or Eastern block drivers coming to the UK become raving lunatics. Stealing fixtures and fittings from showers etc, spreading excrement up walls and similar activities. Yet they don’t do it in any other country in Europe. Not to the extent they do it here at least.
There are bad apples in every barrel, I’m not thinking that every foreign driver is an angel. But, there are truckstops all across Europe that many British drivers prefer to use. There are also many British drivers tramping around Europe who avoid those truckstops because so many British drivers use them.
Draw your own conclusion.
Slightly off topic but on a theme thats developing, I stopped at keele for a shower this morning. the showers there are very good, very clean after a recent refurb. Some t**t has took a marker pen and wrote graffiti on the wall of 1 of them. "■■? from stobarts is a dicd"
I would say that the guy that wrote that is an even bigger dicd!
Its idiots like this that give us good honest decent hard working people in the industry a bad name. Why will anybody spend money on facilities for drivers when this is what happens?
skids:
Its not all good over the water, I’ve done a lot of french RDC’s and every 1 of them has been far worse than any UK RDC without doubt.
I went to costco on magna park this morning and was quite pleased with that, I was 3 hours early, went straight onto a bay, into the waiting room, had a bacon sarnie and a brew from the purpose built cafe they have next to the waiting room and was away from there in just over an hour having tipped 17 pallets of chilled.
I know it is wrong to generalise but you are right about the French ones my least favourite country for attitude, and you are correct about costco a very good cafe.
Simon:
There are also many British drivers tramping around Europe who avoid those truckstops because so many British drivers use them.
Draw your own conclusion.
Simon:
There are also many British drivers tramping around Europe who avoid those truckstops because so many British drivers use them.
Draw your own conclusion.
Oh so true I used avoid them like the plague
I still do, thats why I only ever once went to Victors and have only been to Freds twice. I never really understood why both of these places were so popular with Brits they are nothing to shout about.
AlexWignall:
I used to go to Victors quite often. It seemed to me to be just as many Dutch and Danes as Brits…
Everbody had a bit of drink but it was only the brits who drank pints of beer they couldn’t handle…
W
Thats the problem, for some reason far too many Brits just sit there and down as many pints as they can as quickly as they can - the concept of enjoying a couple of tubos (halfs) or a glass or two of wine seems to difficult to grasp.
at the moment down here in southern Spain you can see loads of Brit tourists necking back pint after pint of beer in temperatures of 38C - then they wonder why they are ill afterwards!
welshboyinspain:
every couple of days someone points out how dreadful the RDC’s are to deliver to and the way drivers get treated in the UK so i thought i’d let you know what some are like here in spain, well todays tip anyway.
I’m in Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, (about the same as tesco in the UK).
booking time 12.00 so i arrive at 10am, nice lady in the gatehouse says “you’re early” i reply “better than late” she laughs but i think she’s heard that plenty of times before.
she points out the ample parking inside the RDC for waiting trucks and says I’m to come back to the gatehouse at 11.45 for my bay number meanwhile its OK to use the facilities.
the facilities are a well cleaned toilet and shower room plus access to the on site cafeteria at the same price as all the staff so i’ve just had bacon and eggs with coffee for 3 euros plus a nice shower
why can’t the UK RDC’s not do the same??
Well now I might have an answer for you.
Some time ago there was a pic of an absolutely disgusting drivers toilet at a UK RDC. Broken seat, brown stains all over it, including the walls. The implication of the pic was, how can we be expected to use facilities like this?
My second thought was, how did it get into that state?
Let me guess, is it possible DRIVERS made it into that state?
I think that toilet was at a new RDC, opened a week or so before that picture was taken.
Is there a possibility that RDCs have decided not to supply good facilities, because they simply get abused and vandalised by the very people who had been given these facilities? Not everyone abuses them obviously, but enough do. Staff canteen facilities are usually withdrawn after members of staff get tired of abuse from drivers. Some chains didn’t just withdraw the privilege at one site, they withdrew it at every site. Some chains, its up to the site manager.
Some sites I’ve used, one week you can use the canteen, two weeks later you can’t. A few months later, we can, then its withdrawn again. The reason stated for the withdrawal ? Abusive drivers. almost always British.
I’m pretty sure that everyone is afforded the same hospitality at Mercadona in Sant Sadurni, wherever they come from. I’m also pretty sure that everything is how you would like to find it and left in much the same condition it was found in.
I find it rather strange that Arabic or Eastern block drivers coming to the UK become raving lunatics. Stealing fixtures and fittings from showers etc, spreading excrement up walls and similar activities. Yet they don’t do it in any other country in Europe. Not to the extent they do it here at least.
There are bad apples in every barrel, I’m not thinking that every foreign driver is an angel. But, there are truckstops all across Europe that many British drivers prefer to use. There are also many British drivers tramping around Europe who avoid those truckstops because so many British drivers use them.
Draw your own conclusion.
Here here
Yep pretty much hit the nail on the head there Simon. I think it comes down to a lack of respect for others and their property, but it extends throughout British society.
skids:
Slightly off topic but on a theme thats developing, I stopped at keele for a shower this morning. the showers there are very good, very clean after a recent refurb. Some t**t has took a marker pen and wrote graffiti on the wall of 1 of them. "■■? from stobarts is a dicd"
I would say that the guy that wrote that is an even bigger dicd!
Its idiots like this that give us good honest decent hard working people in the industry a bad name. Why will anybody spend money on facilities for drivers when this is what happens?
Stopped recently at the shell at asten for a shower and the only one bit of graffiti was written in English, our own always manage to let us down!
We did quite a lot of RDC work in France and I found them generally good, booking times were still strict, but you knew they would be closed for 2 hours at lunch. Many of them were overstaffed with 8 of the staff stood on the steps smoking whilst 2 Algerians tipped the trailer.
I even found the drivers rooms were much the same, with one gobby Frog, several others reading the tatty notices on the wall and if the French drivers laughed I joined in, they may well have been laughing at me, or at the gobby one who was telling of the time he was coned off in a Euromarche and the gendarmes were called with lumps of chalk.
)
