A "“Wiltshire Times” reporter would like a report from a lorry drivers opinion of the truck stops that are closing.A recent story highlighted local residents complaining of early morning noise/urinating and other body functions at a truck park at Spa road,Melksham.Soot on walls,was mentioned and a female driver was un dressing in her cab,and neighbours angry that drivers peer in to their properies.Contact reporter Katie Adams at kadams@newswilts.co.uk or phone 01225 773646 to voice your opinion.Or 15 Duke St.Trowbridge,Wilts.BA14 8EF.
Undressed in her cab? the cheek of it!
Steve-o:
Undressed in her cab? the cheek of it!
And where was i while she was doing this 
I’ve sent the following:
Dear Katie Adams, A Trucknet member posted a message stating that following a recent news story about residents complaining of lorries parking in Melksham, you were asking for the opinions of truckers about truck stops closing so I have emailed you mine. I have been driving lorries throughout the UK for 15 years, having covered well over a million miles in that time.
Basically, the situation with regards to truck stops in the UK is that it had got to crisis level MANY years ago and has been continually getting worse. Many local authorities, Oxfordshire CC being of note, actively closed truck stops, banned overnight parking in laybys on the A34 and refused planning permission for new truckstops. Residents of nearby towns also have opposed truck stops or even lorry parking areas even though these may be 1-2 miles from the nearest house. The common line is that people want the stuff we carry but “don’t want these dirty noisy dangerous lorries here” and would rather we just went “somewhere else” after we delivered what they want although I’m not so sure where “somewhere else is”. Anti-lorry sentiment is so high in this country that a railhead which could have reduced the number of lorries on the M1, M6, A1 and A14 by hundreds or even thousands per day, was scrapped because they wanted to put in 300 lorry parking spaces and people in the area weren’t prepared to put up with the extra noise and traffic they reckoned it would generate so lobbied their council. The fact that it was actually just off the M25 and was adjacent to an industrial area which was some distance from the nearest residential areas, therefore having no impact at all, didn’t seem to matter.
Also with the increase in land property prices over the last decade, many lorry parks which were on commercial sites were closed by the land owners who realised they could make far more storage putting up large warehouses instead or selling the land for residential/retail development. Where the lorries which delivered there parked up wasn’t their problem. One notable truckstop, Alconbury, closed a few years ago. It was a major truckstop on a main trunk route from the ports in the South East and Midlands and was full to bursting every night. Since its closure, lorries coming from the Port of Felixstowe have ended up parking in laybys along the A14 and been subject to attacks by criminals looking to steal loads and fuel. Also in market towns, many authorities used to designate cattle markets as overnight HGV parking but with the demise of those and the land being sold to supermarket chains, they’ve been lost too. There’s also been a trend in newly opened business/industrial parks to ban all HGV parking. Magna Park near Lutterworth, which has DOZENS of National and Regional Distribution Centres, with the Asda ones taking 100’s of lorries per day, is one such example. Stop for 5 minutes and a security man in a van turns up to move you on.
Park in motorway services, I hear you say. We’d love to but there aren’t enough spaces and the shortage has become worse as more and more truckstops have been closed and international freight has increased. It is a regular occurrence to see lorries parked in the coach parking and on the exit sliproads due to the lorry park in the MSA being full. Then you get services like Newport Pagnell which, in its redesign, lost 50% of the HGV parking spaces on the southbound MSA in order to increase the retail area.
One question I would ask the readership complaining about this the following: We work up to 15 hrs a day and up to 84 hours a week. At the end of a 15 hour day, would your readers be happy to have to sleep in the 8ft x 6ft box you’ve been working in all day with no toilet facilities, no way to get a wash or shower, to get a hot meal, where your sleep is regularly disturbed and you worry about being robbed, gassed or physically attacked by those who would want to steal your load or your fuel?
The resounding reply would be a no. And neither do we.
We don’t like having to sleep in a layby or on the side of the road where you can’t go to the toilet, can’t get a wash and get woken up as passing cars rock the cab. We are forced to do it because of the likes of your readership who boycott lorry park planning applications. We are forced to do it because of the likes of your town and county councils who actively close lorry parks based on the unfounded claims of NIMBY campaigners. We are forced to do it because of the money grabbers who put commercial profit above all. We are forced to do it because of the lack of any coherent transport policy in this country.
At the end of the day, the law dictates we have a set number of hours we can drive and that in a set 24hr period, we have to take a daily rest break of 11hrs. People still expect to have everything delivered yesterday, shop shelves to be full, parcels to arrive the following morning from the other end of the country, etc etc so we have to maximise the amount of driving we do, within the law. If we cannot park up in a truckstop because the local residents have decided they don’t want a truckstop nearby, then we’re forced to stop wherever we can find space and if that happens to be on the street you live, then that’s where it’ll be. Over in continental Europe, the problem doesn’t exist. Lorry parks and dedicated truck stops are abundant as are rest areas with washing and toilet facilities. It’s only in the NIMBY UK that there’s a problem.
So as your readership sit down (on the chair delivered by lorry in a house built with materials delivered by lorry) for their breakfast (delivered by lorry) and to read your paper (delivered by lorry), before they go to work (at a business that relies on lorries - yes, even call centres and offices) they must remember that they are both the reason the situation has occurred and the solution.
As a final note: To those who were complaining that we peer into your property, we don’t. You’re not that interesting, even though you may think you are.
Yours truly, Conor
Well said Conor - I’ve nothing to add to that!!
Would a local in the area that the paper is in circulation please be good enough to let us all know if the letter gets printed in full as it appears above?
well said conor, i wish i had the ability to type and compose letters like that.
good for you well done.
I agree,what a good letter,hope she reads it and prints it word for word.
Whether this journalist reads and inwardkly digests the excellent post above is I fear irrelavant. Truck drivers opinions DO NOT sell papers - but criticisms of “killer juggernauts” and people “■■■■■■■■■■” in a public area do (unless they are in a 20 grand caravan pulled by a 4x4 and driven by a middle class twonk).
The same people who whinge and moan about trucks in their lovely part of unspolilt England (is there such a place?) are the same people who complain and moan that not enough is being done to combat global warming and climate change, but whinge and moan if somebody suggests placing a wind turbine on the hill they can just see from the landing window.
Hombre:
The same people who whinge and moan about trucks in their lovely part of unspolilt England (is there such a place?) are the same people who complain and moan that not enough is being done to combat global warming and climate change, but whinge and moan if somebody suggests placing a wind turbine on the hill they can just see from the landing window.
My counter argument to that used to be that once global warming has turned the hill and surrounding countryside to desert, a spoilt view will be the least of your worries.
Good letter Conor, the only thing you appear to have missed is that the local councils in the UK have just about done away with public toilets and those that do exist are in shopping centres that cannot be reached by truck drivers because of yellow lines and prohibitions etc etc etc
Just got an e-mail from the lady in question and she wants to talk to people on the phone. Anyone wishing to put their pennyworths in should either phone her on the above number or e-mail her with your phone number.
I received the following reply…
Dear all,
Many thanks for all your emails over the past few days.
I would like to appeal for anyone who does park in the Melksham lorry Park to contact me, as I would like to interview them, and maybe get a picture. If I could get a group of you that would be great.
This way we can highlight all of your comments and still use the local angle (which I need to have for the paper). It would also be a good follow up to all the complaints by the residents about truck/lorry drivers in their area.
If any of you could post this request on trucknet that would be great too.
I am away from work until Monday so please email me at kbflupe@yahoo.co.uk before then and at this address from Monday.
I can also be reached on 01225 773646
Many thanks,
Katie
Well written letter Coner you havent missed much but by the look of her reply it looks as though she is just interested in the local angle and will she be brave enough to write it up from the drivers view. Will just get me tin hat on for this bit but one thing you missed out on is the piont that many drivers are there own worst enemys you know what im talking about been posted on here many times before Litter bottles of ■■■■. It ■■■■■■ me off to see it so you can imagine why the do gooders get there nickers in a twist. Sorry for being devils advocate I`m totaly behind you & everything you say is spot on hope she gets it right 
greek:
Litter bottles of ■■■■.
But 9 times out of 10 thats because there are no longer any public toilets provided by local authourities Okay lets say 5 times out of 10
The NIMBY attitude that is apparant in this country is slowly destroying it! Every time plans are submitted for something that is needed, like truck parking, it is contested and thrown out by the local councils. I know people dont want 100’s of lorries parked outside their front doors but there is plenty of suitable space left empty that could be used. We arent asking for penthouse apartments but somewhere thats secure, tarmaced with clean facilities and somewhere to get a hot, well priced, meal.
Our infrastructure cant cope either and nothing really substantial is being done about it. Granted they have extended the M1 junc 6-10 and from the looks of it done a good job but there are so many other things that need to be done. I mean Cathorpe has to be one of the worst designed junctions in the country, 3 of the busiest roads converging on a roundabout! But nothing has changed for years. As the numbers of vehicles has increased the quality of the infrasture they use hasnt. I’m not just talking about roads, the railways in this country arent upto much. There are groups shouting very loudly for putting more freight on the railways but when there are leaves on the line the network comes to a halt!
We are getting left behind, whereas a few years ago we were leading the field!
Davey Driver:
greek:
Litter bottles of ■■■■.But 9 times out of 10 thats because there are no longer any public toilets provided by local authourities Okay lets say 5 times out of 10
Have to agree about the bottles of ■■■■, yes sometimes you have to use a bottle (middle of the night), but WHY do they have to be tossed out of the window. Why can’t the people that use them get rid of the contents in the morning (down a drain or in the gutter) and put the bottle in the bin, or save it for later 
connor your email is legendery
well said and everything you said is true.
toby1234abc:
A "“Wiltshire Times” reporter would like a report from a lorry drivers opinion of the truck stops that are closing.A recent story highlighted local residents complaining of early morning noise/urinating and other body functions at a truck park at Spa road,Melksham.Soot on walls,was mentioned and a female driver was un dressing in her cab,and neighbours angry that drivers peer in to their properies.Contact reporter Katie Adams at kadams@newswilts.co.uk or phone 01225 773646 to voice your opinion.Or 15 Duke St.Trowbridge,Wilts.BA14 8EF.
i love the quotes a “female driver ■■■■■■■■■■ in her cab” and “drivers peer into their properties” i wonder if this was the same person.
Conor and TNUK gets a mention 