Secured truck parking: the pros and cons of resting in them

For a long time it has been said that there is no relief in the transport sector, that the lifestyle is very hard and the conditions are increasingly precarious. In short, young people do not find this job very attractive, especially international transport.

One of the biggest concerns for carriers is the lack of security. Fuel theft is the order of the day throughout Europe and there are also mafias that are dedicated to stealing the merchandise being transported, even attacking the drivers if they think it is necessary. In fact, according to a report published by the Spanish Chargers Association (ACE), Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain are the four European countries with the highest number of robberies or attempted robbery.

As a result, many transport companies ask their drivers to take long breaks in guarded and fenced parking lots. Likewise, insurance companies are beginning to require stopping at these places, especially when the merchandise being transported and insured may be attractive to thieves.

In our environment, there are several parking lots located next to the main highways: in Castejón, Imarcoain, Rivabellosa, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Zierbena, Trapagaran, Irun, Oiartzun and Astigarraga, to mention a few. The latter, the CIT Mowiz Truck from Astigarraga, has recently received the award for the best parking lot for trucks in Europe by ESPORG, the European Association of Safe Parking for Trucks.

The main customers of these car parks are usually truckers who travel long distances and spend several days in a row away from their homes. For this reason, in addition to security, many of them also look for places where they are offered services to make your life more comfortable and easy: showers and toilets, laundry, supermarket, restaurant, accommodation, leisure spaces to watch television or play video games, internet connection, infrastructures for sports…

Like hotels, this type of parking is classified into categories according to the services they offer: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. The European institutions and associations such as ESPORG aim to build a network of safe car parks throughout Europe, with the aim of making life more comfortable for truckers, guaranteeing their safety and attracting young people to this profession.

However, the local truckers denounce that these car parks are not a solution for them. Agustin Aranburu, a truck driver from Hernani, believes that they are designed for those carriers who are passing through our lands and whose destination is Europe or the south of the peninsula, and affirms that he needs a safe place to leave the truck when you return home: “in most of our towns there is not enough space to park the truck safely”. He recalls that Zarautz and Tolosa have municipal car parks, but regrets that they are an exception in Gipuzkoa.

On the other hand, it denounces that most of these car parks with surveillance service are very expensive: “today, a autonomous does not have enough time to spend one night in one of these places, the next night in another, etc….”. On his trips to France, he usually choose to stop at service areas from highways or in “restaurants where, in exchange for dinner, they allow us to take a shower and park in their private parking lot.” “In Europe there isn’t enough space for all the truckers either, and sometimes it’s really hard to find a place and stop when the tachograph shows,” he laments.