Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
by the way the a20 is now a permanate lorry park until January.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Barrie Nicoll wrote:It always seems so greedy the way our motorway services are run, captive customers and rip-off prices, just like everything else in the UK really.
The German autobahns have 'parkplatz' and 'rastplatz' at frequent intervals all over their motorway network, as do other eurpean countries too. Perhaps this sort of system might alleviate some of the problems in the UK, but it will never happen because there is so little scope for profiteering. (probably by MPs or their close families)
Whoever takes over the franchises pays a small in providing the buildings, shower and toilet facilities, picnic areas etc and have to be open 24/7 all year round. The government taxes them at 50% of revenue not profit so for example where cigarettes have a tiny profit margin they whack on 2 or 3 quid a packet to cover their costs.
Guest 1033- Registered: 23 Aug 2013
- Posts: 509
Not wishing to get into a long-winded rant about the state of our roads.....but !
About 3% of our VED (road tax) is spent to benefit the motorist (and bus passengers too) the rest funding weird stuff like wars, and bribes to the political wing of the old testament (DUP). If all road tax was spent where it should be, the users, motorists, could have parking places and overnight rest places for lorries, caravans or campers, even people who want to have a snooze in their cars, with all the lavatories and shower blocks paid for by the highways agency, and maintained by them too. Foreign vehicles could use them for nothing, as UK drivers abroad can use them free of charge (as far as I know), and after they have all been built and in use for a while, we could see how long the rip off services would last. Petrol stations and coffee shops could pay a reasonable rent conditional on not overcharging and everything would level out at a sensible price.
If a private business were to charge you for one thing but spend it on other customers, how long would they get away with it ? Thats enough of my rant...
Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,122
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Quite a problem for the Government agency as there is a desperate need for one or more but nobody wants one on the green belt or near to where they live.
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/permanent-lorry-parking-should-be-160062/Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
then they are a bunch of snowflakes . is despritly needed sooner rather than later.
ps, tap is on now
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
If I lived in an idyllic village in the countryside I would fight tooth and nail to stop a lorry park Brian. It should be in a rundown area populated by rough, coarse people - River for example.
Guest 2478 and Brian Dixon like this
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,122
Council chiefs call for permanent lorry parking near A2
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/permanent-lorry-parking-should-be-160062/
FFS.
Forumites will no doubt have noticed that Sir John Armitt has replaced Lord Adonis as chair of the National Infrastructure Commission.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/markets/sectors/infrastructure/sir-john-armitt-lands-nic-chair-role-full-time/10027201.article
Sir John has, of course, a background in engineering, unlike the useless Lord Adonis who .......?
With all due respect to local Council Chiefs, surely a 'problem' such as this should be part of national strategic analysis rather than locals coming up with 'back of envelope' solutions.
I trust that this has been flagged up with the NIC and pressure is being put on them by themselves, and local MPs to come up with a workable solution?
Details of NIC here:-
https://www.nic.org.uk/
As I've said before while the world and his dog has mobile communication 24/7, the idea that the best we can do when the Dover/Calais link goes down is to allow HGVs to continue converging on an enormous stretch of tarmac built on prime Kentish farming land and only used a few days a year, is madness.
It's a 19th century solution to a 20th century problem when we could have a 21st century solution.
I suspect Sir John's Commission would agree!
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Button
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,060
I intend to go to a sporting fixture/event of some kind even though I have no ticket for it and know that all tickets have been sold. At what point should the authorities (who dey?) force me to abort my journey?
(Not my real name.)
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,706
If only it were a few days a year
Every time I travel along the A2 all of the lay bys are full of HGVs often with the rear of the last one poking out into the carriageway. The majority of said stops have no toilets or food outlets much to the gross inconvenience of locals etc. due to what gets left behind.
You are however correct that this needs to be a strategic solution, the first step of which ought to be making the A2 a strategic route and dualling it all the way to Dover. The next stage would then be to provide adequate service areas with dedicated truck facilities negating the need for a little used overspill parking area as was envisaged near Folkestone.
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
"As I've said before while the world and his dog has mobile communication 24/7, the idea that the best we can do when the Dover/Calais link goes down is to allow HGVs to continue converging on an enormous stretch of tarmac built on prime Kentish farming land and only used a few days a year, is madness."
As I have explained to you many times Bob you need to understand the mentality of lorry drivers/truckers, hopefully it will sink in eventually.
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,122
Button wrote:I intend to go to a sporting fixture/event of some kind even though I have no ticket for it and know that all tickets have been sold. At what point should the authorities (who dey?) force me to abort my journey?
As you have heard in the news the FA Cup is cancelled for today. Unfortunately there are many of you who have such a 'mentality' that you are setting off to Wembley nevertheless. Howard is at this very moment tarmacing over huge tracts of land around Wembley Stadium.
I despair (yet again).
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,060
Alas, your despair over my mentality has not prevented me from turning up and enjoying the ambiance of and having a jolly singsong on the M20! (which I think was Mr McS's point).
Of course, I could change the scenario to somewhere along the lines of: I had already set off on my journey when an unexpected accident happened ahead of me, although that would be more analogous to traffic heading across the continent towards the French channel ports.
howard mcsweeney1 likes this
(Not my real name.)
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,122
For reasons of analogy I have turned on the taps of my bath and left the plug hole open.
The system is in equilibrium with a couple of inches of water in the bottom of the bath gurgling away down the drain.
My idiot au-pair, who is French, for reasons best known to herself, has blocked the plug hole with a small model fishing boat, and if I don't do anything the bath will inevitably overflow.
Do I
A) get a bigger bath
B) turn off the sodding tap
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
One has to forgive Bob who spent his working life in the taxpayer funded public sector with an index linked pension awaiting. Those who worked on the unprotected front line know how drivers think. If they have a drop off and the place is closed for the night or weekend they will park outside or as near as is legal ready for when they open. To think that they will wait quietly in a truck stop on the M6 waiting for a call forward is frankly laughable.
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,122
In that case Howard the quicker we have driverless trucks the better.
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,060
Captain, the answer is neither: no bath will ever be big enough (as you well knew) and neither can one live without bathing. You are also stuck with your French au-pair because she's cheap. The answers are a) keep Mon Cherie as sweet as possible and b) accept that the best place for the water to overflow is onto the M20 lino, which you have already paid for and installed precisely because you wanted a bathroom.
(Not my real name.)
Button- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,060
I might add that I feel sure Ofwat would advise similarly and, to be fair to Mon Cherie, she did chip in towards your last bath enlargement. It was the people on your street who surprised me, nobly voting for a Council with plans to block the plug hole; but perhaps they had more important fish to fry.
(Not my real name.)
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
the answer my friends is blowing in the wind.