From recent experience it seems that many service area operators pay very little attention to the use made of designated coach parking areas.
On 12 March I called at the Rugby services on the M6 at about 1300hrs. I was met with the scene shown in my photograph. Only two spaces were free, and the next row designated for caravans was similarly cluttered. A bulk of the problem seems to be the increasing number of foreign light goods vehicles.
I was only driving a 16 seater with no passengers, but the scene made me think:
- Why should elderly passengers, and those less ambulant, have to walk a distance to avail themselves of toilets?
- What are the options when you have to deploy a wheelchair lift which requires a certain amount of space?
- Are service area operators serious about mitigating against injury claims, but equally wanting to encourage visiting coaches and their spending power?
I also use Cambridge services on the A14, which has a very large HGV parking area. But you can often find that coach spaces are full of lorries, with many of their drivers seemingly incapable of walking any distance beyond the nearest doorway.
The M6 Corley northbound is currently having the WHSmith outlet refurbished, which may or may not have necessitated a rubbish skip being left half way across the entrance to the
coach park; I have now twice had two lorries blocking the rest of the entrance, meaning you have to reverse into the exit to reach a space, where the four spaces designated would be blocked to any other coach.
As a driver, I find it is good to have a walk about, but comfort breaks are stretched where passengers are forced to walk further and further (and let’s face it, some of the outlets are not that swift at being able to dispense a coffee).
Maybe it is one of life’s little burdens which we professionals have to rise above. I am sure there are many other coach drivers with similar experience. I remember the days when an attendant was employed, but since that unnecessary expense has been removed, it is a free for all. There was even waitress service at the Blue Boar.
Chris Brown
Longmynd Travel
