Moto Hilton Park Northbound M6 services – rubbish filled skip left in HGV parking bays. Were you affected?

Coming hot on the heels of our recent article about the recent heatwaves and the need for air con pods or parking air con to be fitted to lorries, was this event. Driver Yoni Sanat was forced to spend the night of Jul 17 parked beside a rubbish filled skip at Hilton North Services, run by Moto. With the summer weather you can imagine the smell and the flies buzzing around.

Yoni complained to Moto and received an initial reply while also contacting Trucker's Toilets UK (TTUK) who campaign for better facilities for drivers. The story was then passed onto us. The skip had been left there due to the breakdown of an on-site trash compactor.

Nobody wants to spend much time near something like that, let alone 11 hours or more on a legally required break. A decision was made to drop the skip in the HGV bays and replace it when filled - how regularly this took place is unknown. Ultimately, it really comes down to lorry drivers being the ones to suffer.

Apparently there was nowhere else on the site where the roll-on-roll-off skip could be located and the skips could be filled, and then swapped for empty ones until the compactor was operational again.   The replies from Moto are detailed below, thanks to Yoni's enquiries it does look like it has prompted action from Moto to ensure this doesn't happen again - but it should never have been considered an option in the first place.

We would like to know, did you have to park beside a skip left in the HGV bays at Hilton Park North? Is it still there now? Have you experienced this anywhere else?

A Moto spokesperson said: "The skip in question was temporarily located in the lorry park following an issue with our site compactor. Due to the size of the equipment required to accommodate the waste, a HGV parking bay was the only viable option for its placement, and we ensured waste was removed regularly. We appreciate that the extreme heat over recent days exacerbated the situation and understand the discomfort and frustration this caused for those parking nearby.

"We can confirm that arrangements are already underway to remove the skip permanently, and we are working closely with our waste supplier to ensure this is handled as a matter of urgency. Going forward, we will also review our process for dealing with similar issues to ensure alternative solutions do not impact parking facilities for our customers.  "At Moto, we are committed to ensuring all HGV drivers have a comfortable and safe experience, and we regret that this situation fell short of those expectations.

We apologise for the disruption caused and thank visitors for their understanding as we worked to resolve this matter swiftly." A reply to Yoni said:

"We would like to provide some clarity on the situation. The skip you encountered was temporarily placed in a lorry parking bay due to an unexpected issue with the site's waste compactor. Given the size of the replacement bulker required, an HGV bay was unfortunately the only viable location for safe placement.

We fully acknowledge that this is far from ideal, particularly during the recent period of extreme heat, which may have exacerbated the odour and hygiene concerns. Our waste contractor has been contacted and we are currently awaiting confirmation of the earliest possible collection."

That can't have been the best place to leave a skip to fill with rubbish

The story doesn't seem completely resolved at this point as we don't know if the skip is still there in the HGV bays - they say it 'was temporarily located' so that would indicate it's now elsewhere. There must be an alternative location for such a skip on site. Moto has offered Yoni a GBP25 voucher via download of an app, although he has not asked for compensation, simply a refund for the night's parking and a request for the immediate removal of the skip.

C'mon Moto just refund him the night's parking. We hope the skip has now been removed and with the matter now highlighted, any such situations in the future see skips located away from areas where drivers have to park and often sleep for the night. To all service providers: lorry drivers are not just customers of your sites, they are essential users, often depending on them and having no alternative choice, to be able to work safely and legally.

Let's hope Moto is taking the matter seriously and this does not happen again - lorry drivers are not second class customers.

If you've had to spend the night beside a skip in a motorway services area get in touch via [email protected] or [email protected]