Tony Jones Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Yes, it IS possible to tour cheaply in the UK after all. We’ve been up to Northumbria last week, using a combination of CCC CS’s and Truckstops. CS’s seem to be cheaper on average than CC CL’s - lots of them are well under £10 a night. The Truckstops were at one time published in a Highways Agency booklet (first introduced to us on here, if memory serves, by the late lamented "Frank Wilkinson"), but they’re on this website now: http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/13659.aspx - and far more of them! You’ll see that some of them charge for parking - avoid those, as the charges are set for lorries and usually dearer than a CS (or even CL), but lots of them are free of charge. Plus, if you want you can have a really good value English breakfast to see you on your way! Before this thread turns into a UK version of the old “aires /sites” argument, I KNOW no-one wants to spend their holidays at the back of a transport café. We don’t wind out the awning, put out the furniture, and sit in the car park with a G&T!! This is about places to sleep, in between the places you really want to visit - without spending all your holiday money on renting bits of ground. Give it a try - you might like it. (I was just going to post this on PMH since OAL has been so slow, but since it's improved noticeably tonight here is your reward! If it slows down dramatically now I'll take the hint :'( ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntyjanet1 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 TRUCKSTOPS ! Dear me, i think we need to have a collection,silver that is ! can ,t have a man of the cloth overnighting with the great unwashed , my wife would be frightened to death to stay amongst all the truckers >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Truckstops as Tony say are not some where to spend a holiday, but if like us you like to get a head start on a friday night after work they can be useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelly58 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 auntyjanet1 - 2011-09-22 7:55 PMTRUCKSTOPS !Dear me, overnighting with the great unwashed , my wife would be frightened to death to stay amongst all the truckers >:-)auntyjanet1 - 2011-09-22 7:55 PMTRUCKSTOPS !Dear me, overnighting with the great unwashed , my wife would be frightened to death to stay amongst all the truckers >:-)Having been a long distance lorry driver for more years than I care to remember I take your comment as an insult towards all the hard working drivers that keep you supplied with all your daily needs. No doubt you have had a cossetted existance in a 9 to 5 clean and warm environment without the hassle of the Police / VOSA / driving in adverse weather conditions and working unsocial hours, perhaps you should give it a try before you make such comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Leake Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Before we retired we used to travel overnight and stay at truck stops. They are not in general the best places to stop duento the noise of trucks moving at all hours of the night and refrigerated units with motors running all night. Having said that we never ha d any trouble and when we went into one of their transport cafes to tell them that a gang was nicking diesel out of lorry tanks the drivers were most appreciative. The biggest problem we used to encounter was that we traveled late onto the night and often the truck stops would be fulll and we would have to travel much further that we wanted to. Having said that the truck drivers are a great bunch doing a thankless tasks delivering our goods and the truck stops are designed for their use so we are the outsiders taking advantage of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crinklystarfish Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Useful if you are driving a truck, and need to stop. Thereafter, pretty uninspirational. I personally wouldn't use them to overnight but only because of the inevitable noise and disturbance - and I have a truck. Agree about the breakfast though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marydot Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 auntyjanet1 - 2011-09-22 7:55 PM TRUCKSTOPS ! Dear me, i think we need to have a collection,silver that is ! can ,t have a man of the cloth overnighting with the great unwashed , my wife would be frightened to death to stay amongst all the truckers >:-)[/quote Excuse me! My son is a truck driver and is neither unwashed nor scary. If he pulls in to a truck stop, it's to have a shower, something to eat and hopefully a few hours' sleep before waking everyone up as he starts hisengine up at 4 0'clock! Marydot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vindiboy Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 I can see no problems using a Truck Stop for a quick night stop except the noisy Refrigerated. lorries that use them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-09-22 7:40 PM Before this thread turns into a UK version of the old “aires /sites” argument, I KNOW no-one wants to spend their holidays at the back of a transport café.... This is about places to sleep, in between the places you really want to visit - without spending all your holiday money on renting bits of ground. Give it a try - you might like it. Well said.. ;-) ..maybe a daft question this..but is it okay for a motorhome to use these stops?(..seeing as they're intended for HGVs and their tacho' governed drivers..? :-S ) It's just that I know a couple of wagon drivers and they get peed off enough,when a campervan/MH/caravan has pitched up in "their" usual lay-by,let alone taking up spaces on a designated park... I just wondered how this would be received..... :-S Edit:..one additional thought...as well as possibly "peeing off" wagon drivers,if we all used 'em,it may be counter productive,as many "on route" CLs & CSs would be out of business.... :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JudgeMental Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 I womder if some of you have had a humour by pass......Was it on the national health or did you go private? *-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auntyjanet1 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 JudgeMental - 2011-09-26 4:50 PM I womder if some of you have had a humour by pass......Was it on the national health or did you go private? *-) Thanks Judge ! (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 pepe63 - 2011-09-26 3:34 PM Tony Jones - 2011-09-22 7:40 PM Before this thread turns into a UK version of the old “aires /sites” argument, I KNOW no-one wants to spend their holidays at the back of a transport café.... This is about places to sleep, in between the places you really want to visit - without spending all your holiday money on renting bits of ground. Give it a try - you might like it. Well said.. ;-) ..maybe a daft question this..but is it okay for a motorhome to use these stops?(..seeing as they're intended for HGVs and their tacho' governed drivers..? :-S ) It's just that I know a couple of wagon drivers and they get peed off enough,when a campervan/MH/caravan has pitched up in "their" usual lay-by,let alone taking up spaces on a designated park... I just wondered how this would be received..... :-S Edit:..one additional thought...as well as possibly "peeing off" wagon drivers,if we all used 'em,it may be counter productive,as many "on route" CLs & CSs would be out of business.... :-S It's a matter of common sense and consideration really Pepe. Very few of these places are neat rectangular areas. One near Boston, for instance, has an area behind the café, which a truck couldn't get into and turn round - that's where we went. As long as you make sure you're not preventing a tachographed truck driver from using the place, no-one seems to mind. But I don't think enough motorhomers (and it can only really be MHs, not caravans or tents!) would use these to make any significant impact on CLs or CSs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Tony Jones - 2011-09-29 9:55 PM It's a matter of common sense and consideration really Pepe. Oh no!? :-S ...Do we REALLY need to rely on folk implementing those..?!? 8-) ... (lol) (lol) ..and yes,you're right about the low numbers of MHs that would actually use them.... I'd probably looking into using one,if I just needed somewhere to pull over,late,whilst "on route".. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
747 Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Some years ago, I regularly stayed at a truck stop in Luton as they had a number of single rooms. There was a bar, restaurant and even entertainment in the bar a couple of nights per week. In my view, it was much better than a lot of the B & B's in Luton (if you could get booked into one). The drivers were a good crowd and I never saw any arguments (not like this forum *-) ). There were also showers which were used by the drivers, so I suppose that dispels one myth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted October 2, 2011 Share Posted October 2, 2011 Just as a matter of interest you can buy Truckstop directories, I have two by different publishers and I also have one for the whole of France called Les Routiers which was published in 1965. It is no longer in print. It lists all the French truck stops which are as good as Aires if not better because there is a cafe attached to each one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondo Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 As for stopping at truck stops As long as the drivers can get in and get parked fair enough I say...I was a truck driver for many many years..and lost count of the times when I needed a break and couldn't get parked up because of caravans and vans on the lorry parks..(Michael Woods Services on the M5 spring to mind)...Just before I quit truck driving and went full time Motorhoming I was in a laybye overnight with a motorhome parked in front and actually spoke to the occupants and got a bit of info from them about motorhoming and the guy said he used laybyes and truck stops as overnight parking as has been said it was a bit cheaper...Me and 'er indoors did use a few of my favourite lay byes from my truckdriving days and actually saw a few former work mates from my driving days parked in them...The only thing is the fridge units..rattling away all night....I have also used the smaller French Truck Stops especially the one's with the T.I.R.Sticker ..Now they are value for money as they don't just give away the T.I.R. plates without checking the places out on a regular basis... As for the comment of the great unwashed...It may have been tongue in cheek BUT....The truck driving fraternity is not like that....we did have a washand brush up every day....Well at least I did...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corky 8 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 Thanks Tony, Ive often used them when I was driving HGV,s but never though of using them in the M/H, will give them a try when we come across them now, like the idea of the Full English before setting off for the day, I will even invest in a new truckstop Directory, Keep safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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