Opening a truckstop

[mike-c]

Harry Monk:

Chas:
STOP.

This is exactly the most wrong place to ask these questions. All these truckers are going to throw their enthusiasm towards you opening a truckstop C/W a shopping list of all they desire.

(Q) Why are such places few & far between. (A) Because they don’t make £money.

Much though I would wish the OP good luck with his idea, I will nail my colours to the mast right now and say that I am with Chas on this one. Even BP couldn’t make it pay and they had a lot of money to throw at it when they started.

I vagueley agree with Chas too. However the fact BP couldn’t make it pay should not be a yard stick for others. BP has (had?) shareholders and was an organisation that that was pureley monetary driven. A profitable truckstop that might employ a few people and provide a service to drivers and provide the owners with a Range Rover,nice house and a few holidays abroad each year and a job they enjoy might seem like utopia for some but for investors its just not enough. It needs to make serious cash. BP was probably a bad example to use too for other reasons. Both Wolverhampton and Alconbury had their leases terminated by the owners of the land in our boom time and the land owners expected to turn over very high short term profits and then move on to their next target. They came unstuck and lost a lot of money.
Anyway !! What do we need? A parking place, food and a bog it aint rocket science.

[rocky_7]

I wish you luck with your dream . but if you ever get to the reality stage ,make sure you have more signatures from drivers , than there are local taliban or you have no chance

[toowise]

been to a small truckstop today that would probably be a good starting point for the OP to get ideas…

Dockside Diner in Goole,

Area of land on industrial estate just off a major motorway (M62 J36)

enough parking for about 20 or 30 trucks if parked sensibly!

good CLEAN reasonably priced cafe

good CLEAN toilets (presume showers were the same but I only stopped for brekkie)

Also what looked like a small lounge bar.

My point is all of this was with portacabins.

Land can be leased or rented by the month as can portacabins so a relatively low outlay to start.

Everything you need with a quick (ish) start-up.

BTW I am not connected to this place in any way I just thought it would fit the OPs idea, dont think the place is for sale though

[wheel_nut]

Strangely enough, I agree with Chas too, but my idea does work and for not a lot of outlay. Look at the Village Inn? The roads all around are chocka block with trucks at 5pm, it has easy motorway access, security cameras, a couple of banks and a post box. The meals are simple but wholesome and there is a regular steady trade. During the day the pub is busy with people from the offices and local shops, at teatime it is the lorry drivers turn. Safety in numbers as well.

Pubs are cheap at the moment, but with careful thought on what you want to do, a careful selection process and keep the showers in a reasonable state by someone mopping them out and checking them before you return the truck keys.

Just a thought. I have seen several places that could work, providing the local council do not stick a weight limit on the surrounding roads. The parking area is free, especially with my example, and the added bonus is that there are no residential properties.

Toowide mentioned Goole, yes another good start, dock land and government grants.

[brit_pete]

If you do your research correctly and have enough
capital to weather you through a bad patch , and
the other point being give a service which is
good and appreciated, you will make it, Be prepared
offer the customer what they ask for and you will
be getting repeat customers, work out the costs right
and charge a decent price one which is good for
you as well as the customer, as for parking
if you have a security force then you have to pay them
how ever get one which is willing to do the job
and efficiently, possible with dogs might help

[jc69817]

Wheel Nut:
Strangely enough, I agree with Chas too, but my idea does work and for not a lot of outlay. Look at the Village Inn? The roads all around are chocka block with trucks at 5pm, it has easy motorway access, security cameras, a couple of banks and a post box. The meals are simple but wholesome and there is a regular steady trade. During the day the pub is busy with people from the offices and local shops, at teatime it is the lorry drivers turn. Safety in numbers as well.

do you mean the Village Inn in Trafford Park ?

[miketdt]

Getting planning permission for a truck stop would be harder to get than applying for a gipsy camp under access and enviromental grounds.
Just outside Exeter at Clyst Honiton ( the old A30 ) there is a _hithole of a pub that only truckers use, nobody else would use it, its such a dump, but that could be an idea, rent or manage an old empty out of town pub with a large carpark. I remember when I use to tramp for 17 years I would use truckstop toilets and showers and then pull out and parkup for free. Good Luck, don’t lose your shirt over it.

[toowise]

Wheel Nut:
Toowide mentioned Goole, yes another good start, dock land and government grants.

You seen me then Wheelnut ?
Its toowise NOT toowide …just coz im a bit overweight

[wheel_nut]

jc69817:

Wheel Nut:
Strangely enough, I agree with Chas too, but my idea does work and for not a lot of outlay. Look at the Village Inn? The roads all around are chocka block with trucks at 5pm, it has easy motorway access, security cameras, a couple of banks and a post box. The meals are simple but wholesome and there is a regular steady trade. During the day the pub is busy with people from the offices and local shops, at teatime it is the lorry drivers turn. Safety in numbers as well.

do you mean the Village Inn in Trafford Park ?

Shhh! or everyone will know about it Oh, I see, is that the idea?

[wheel_nut]

toowise:

Wheel Nut:
Toowide mentioned Goole, yes another good start, dock land and government grants.

You seen me then Wheelnut ?
Its toowise NOT toowide …just coz im a bit overweight

Sorry mate, just my little quip, mind you if you keep on using Goole Truckstop for breakfast, well, we’ll see

[newmercman]

I think that the right truckstop could be a winner for everyone, if it’s done right, it would require a pretty decent investment though, just as the Orwell Crossing truckstop has proven.

For the owner you would need a plot of hard standing, ideally concrete, for 100 or so lorries, clearly defined bays with enough room to get in & out without damaging anything, a few wheelie bins/empty 45gallon drums for rubbish in the parking area & then a building with a resturaunt for 50/60 drivers, 4 or 5 big tables should be enough, make it so you had to sit next to somebody, it would create atmosphere, also use decent ingredients, not cheap crap, proper potatoes, not frozen crap, Heinz beans, decent sausages etc etc. A shop, papers, magazines, ■■■■, soft drinks, sweets, crisps etc but no microwave food, you want drivers eating your food not cooking their own & then toilet/shower facilities, you could perhaps keep lorry keys as a deposit & physically inspect the showers after each use, wouldn’t be too hard to do, they should be cleaned after each use anyway, anybody damaging them would be reported to the Police & their company informed. security wise, a big fence & a manned gate should do it, don’t allow anybody but lorry drivers in & then it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

With the lack of lorry parking around I reckon it would be full every night of the week, if you charged a tenner a night that would get you 7 grand a week plus what you earn from the cafe/shop, maybe charge a couple of quid for showers & you would be looking at another grand a week, with all the mortgage payments/council tax etc you would make a nice few quid & drivers would have somewhere decent to park.

There are a lot of old factories/warehouses that are not being used that would make ideal sites, getting planning permission may be another story, but if you were to get accounts set up with a few firms (or the promise of) so that they had a certain amount of parking spaces (enough to cover your expenses) guaranteed each night whether they used them or not, I’m sure a bank would see it as a viable proposition, you could probably fill a 100 spaces each night 10 times over just from drivers who view this site.

[jc69817]

Wheel Nut:

jc69817:

Wheel Nut:
Strangely enough, I agree with Chas too, but my idea does work and for not a lot of outlay. Look at the Village Inn? The roads all around are chocka block with trucks at 5pm, it has easy motorway access, security cameras, a couple of banks and a post box. The meals are simple but wholesome and there is a regular steady trade. During the day the pub is busy with people from the offices and local shops, at teatime it is the lorry drivers turn. Safety in numbers as well.

do you mean the Village Inn in Trafford Park ?

Shhh! or everyone will know about it Oh, I see, is that the idea?

No I have no connection to the place anymore. I used to run it in a former life when the manageress Janice was sick or on hol. Used to really enjoy making the chicken madras for you all and helping with the minted lamb henrys (a particular favourite of mine). Definitely one of my prefered places to run in the evenings down to earth people didnt like the dinner crowd not one for office wallas myself. Never liked doing the quiz used to get someone to do it for me. Top place, top food and really good people.

everything you want in a truckstop with “free parking” (receipts available)

[wheel_nut]

jc69817:
everything you want in a truckstop with “free parking” (receipts available)

That was the bit I was trying to get over to ■■■■■, a large enough clientele without the worry of looking for a large parking area for sale

[darkseeker]

I used to go to a fishing lake where if you kept your day tickets you could get a free day with eight of them…

[wheel_nut]

darkseeker:
I used to go to a fishing lake where if you kept your day tickets you could get a free day with eight of them…

You can get a free coffee on the train if you show them 10 previous receipts, and can be bothered to fill out the forms in triplicate. the forms take 25 minutes to complete the coffee costs about 30 bob

[darkseeker]

the point was; it kept me going there. Owt for nowt as they say

[wheel_nut]

darkseeker:
:lol: the point was; it kept me going there. Owt for nowt as they say

Oh I agree, a true Yorkshireman you see

[jj72]

Harry Monk:
Much though I would wish the OP good luck with his idea, I will nail my colours to the mast right now and say that I am with Chas on this one. Even BP couldn’t make it pay and they had a lot of money to throw at it when they started.

yes but WHY don’t they work in the UK? look at so many truckstops in western europe and the united states which are clean, welcoming, have pretty much everything that you could need (and some stuff you don’t!) and don’t need to rip anyone off to thrive and survive maybe chas’s assertion about land values in the UK makes a difference, but not that much difference surely

[wheel_nut]

jj72:

Harry Monk:
Much though I would wish the OP good luck with his idea, I will nail my colours to the mast right now and say that I am with Chas on this one. Even BP couldn’t make it pay and they had a lot of money to throw at it when they started.

yes but WHY don’t they work in the UK? look at so many truckstops in western europe and the united states which are clean, welcoming, have pretty much everything that you could need (and some stuff you don’t!) and don’t need to rip anyone off to thrive and survive maybe chas’s assertion about land values in the UK makes a difference, but not that much difference surely

We have all looked at this and the reasons of success or failure but if it is land prices, rates, wages and legislation that hamper the UK truckstops then that would also put the kybosh on Geiselwind, Rheinbollen, Sittensen and Ramstein autohofs. It would also make the Rastatte und Tanken unprofitable, they cannot make enough profit from a tepid pan of sweating sausages and some old crusty bread.

In France the routiers open at 5am and sell 30 petit cafe and then have a lull until the 2 hour busy period over lunch, the staff return around 5pm and start to prepare for the evening. By 7pm the bar & parking is full, the restaurant opens and by 11pm everyone is tucked up in bed ready to fight another day. The French restos have gone from strength to strength and may it continue, however it will end, if the young drivers don’t venture off the beaten track and stop using Macdonalds, Burger Kings and KFC.

The motorway services here have a multi franchise operation staffed by half a dozen disinterested kids who are planning where to get there next tab from. That and the fact that ProLogis and St Modwen would sooner build more unwanted warehousing and business parks to satisfy there shareholders and proffer enticements to planning committees.

[newmercman]

jj72:

Harry Monk:
Much though I would wish the OP good luck with his idea, I will nail my colours to the mast right now and say that I am with Chas on this one. Even BP couldn’t make it pay and they had a lot of money to throw at it when they started.

yes but WHY don’t they work in the UK? look at so many truckstops in western europe and the united states which are clean, welcoming, have pretty much everything that you could need (and some stuff you don’t!) and don’t need to rip anyone off to thrive and survive maybe chas’s assertion about land values in the UK makes a difference, but not that much difference surely

They all rip you off if you compare the prices in the shop to those of a supermarket, they take the captive audience bit very seriously, the big chains in the USA don’t really want trucks in them, they love an RV (camper or caravan to you & me) though, more money to spend on all the crap they sell in the shops, the showers in them are very good though, but that’s only because if they weren’t the drivers wouldn’t stop & fill up in there so they’d lose the business, the food although plentiful is for the most part…crap, the smaller ones are ok though.