I am an operator who also drives when needed.
One Friday evening, around 2100hrs, I called into Leicester Forest Services (northbound) with a group of elderly passengers, to find all the coach bays were full of trucks parked up for the night.
My group had to walk between the tightly parked trucks to reach the crossing which takes them to the services.
The route is appalling; it’s dark and the passengers were catching their clothes on the sides of the trucks, one lady even fell over.
When I mentioned this to a member of staff explaining how dangerous this was, she said they were aware of the problem and asked the drivers not to park there.
My view is that's not good enough, someone is going to get killed; passengers are not expecting articulated lorries to be reversing into the coach park while they are alighting or queuing to board the coach when there are parking spaces available for lorries in the lorry park.
This is not an isolated case, it has been like this on my last three visits, but it’s my last on health and safety grounds.
Wayne Fatherley
Concierge Coach Travel
