Most transport cafes close down for reasons that could be addressed if they were prepared to. Poor value and food quality, poor surface in the parking area, poor security.
All this could be corrected if the owners were prepared to invest. A well run, clean , secure and high quality food establishment would make decent money.
A business like this fails generally because the quality of service and food on offer falls well short of the rates they are charging. Get that equation right and you’d be on to a winner. The location is important of course, but as long as access is reasonably good near main routes etc. no problem.
I disagree. The standards of all the above that you mentioned begin to fall when there is already no profit in it to invest .How many drivers do you see parked on a transport caffs park eating their own sandwiches and getting the flask out. However you are entitled to your opinion and I look forward to visiting your establishment in the near future
Many drivers. And if you asked them if they’d be happy to eat out they’d say no because it’s overpriced and poor quality in the majority of cases. I’m not saying it’s easy. No business is easy. But the standards are so low in a lot of places, going out of business is inevitable.
Places such as Orwell and the Stockyard are reasonably good and do OK…Most drivers would eat out a bit more if they felt they weren’t being ripped off. I’m not saying you could make a million out of it. But you could certainly do OK - if you run it properly.
Serving greasy, sub standard food from a dirty run down shack, with an acre of land attached for parking that looks more like the Somme than a lorry park isn’t likely to ever be successful…
mickyblue:
The gap that has been filled in near Thornough was due to the gent who died on his motorcycle. He was a HGV driver for Whitworths Brothers. Good thing they closed that gap as it was right on top of a hill. After the coach crash there were rumors that the slip was going to be made bigger and a flyover was also going to be built near RAF Wittering from the southbound going over the northbound in to the village. nothing came of it though as usual
That coach crash was it when the driver stopped in lane 1 due to breaking down with a full load of people on it?
Yes, unfortunately remember it. He was a friend of my Brother.
Yes the coach crash was down to the driver parking in lane one after a relatively minor bump. If I remember rightly the coach driver was prosecuted and imprisoned. The poor cadets on the coach were only heading to RAF Wittering.
weeto:
I’m more likely to revisit a truck stop, if I am served by attractive staff, and not some old hag who used to be the stripper in the 80’s.
Any you can recommend?
Orwell comes to mind, although seem to be east euro but still friendly, whitwood the last time I was in there, Red Lion always seem to have a couple of cuties behind the bar, I do tend to use BP garages a lot now and there is some nice ones in them, one thing I don’t want to see behind the counter is a fat greasy bloke, puts me right off my fry up.
secure parking
good food
reasonable pricing
clean facilities
Strippers■■?
We may not agree on most things but this one we sure do
As said good food
good showers cleanend after every use
i would rather pay a extra quid or two and have some decent food if wanted to eat ■■■■ would look for a job where am home every night to suffer the cooking
The only thing I’m bothered about is that it’s secure: good fence, barrier entry, cameras everywhere and a security guard who actually guards and monitors the yard. So you don’t have to worry about being “interfered” with in the night.
kindle530:
I cant beleive the holding area/booking in area off the M11 for the Olympics has been filled in and ploughed over, it would have made a bomb as a parking area for lorries heading into London, and it is the other side of the Motorway to the Police.
i thought the same too …its not like theres a abundance of hgv parking within the 25
kindle530:
I cant beleive the holding area/booking in area off the M11 for the Olympics has been filled in and ploughed over, it would have made a bomb as a parking area for lorries heading into London, and it is the other side of the Motorway to the Police.
i thought the same too …its not like theres a abundance of hgv parking within the 25
We used to have to go there before delivering to the Olympic stadium and village and I thought the same. I once asked one of the fellas there what was going to happen to it when the building work was finished and he said they planned to turn it back into greenbelt,so a superb site for a truckstop which had about 200+ parking spots and already had a canteen and bogs also had Tarmac was going to be flattend at a huge cost no doubt for basicly sweet fa! How much did it cost to build In the first place I wonder? No idea have some folk and I mean them in high places
kindle530:
I cant beleive the holding area/booking in area off the M11 for the Olympics has been filled in and ploughed over, it would have made a bomb as a parking area for lorries heading into London, and it is the other side of the Motorway to the Police.
i thought the same too …its not like theres a abundance of hgv parking within the 25
We used to have to go there before delivering to the Olympic stadium and village and I thought the same. I once asked one of the fellas there what was going to happen to it when the building work was finished and he said they planned to turn it back into greenbelt,so a superb site for a truckstop which had about 200+ parking spots and already had a canteen and bogs also had Tarmac was going to be flattend at a huge cost no doubt for basicly sweet fa! How much did it cost to build In the first place I wonder? No idea have some folk and I mean them in high places
Surely it comes down to the industry representative organisations and publications not vocalising about the subject of truck parking. As far as I recall the last article in CM was about a year ago when they had an MD of a motorway service company spending the night in a lorry cab in his services. I feel very sorry for the guys I see parked for two days in a bloody layby or on an ind est.
