TRUCKERS who sometimes grab 40 winks while waiting at Ipswich quays have come in for a rude awakening. Port chiefs have said it has to stop – and the drivers are furious.

By Amanda Cresswell

TRUCKERS who sometimes grab 40 winks while waiting at Ipswich quays have come in for a rude awakening.

Port chiefs have said it has to stop – and the drivers are furious.

But manager Rob Smith today told The Evening Star that truckers have never been allowed to sleep there.

The move comes after the shock announcement that the snack bar at the West Bank terminal must close at the end of the month – sparking more fury among drivers.

Mr Smith said: "We have never professed to being a lorry park and don't expect drivers to come to the port to sleep-over when they collect or deposit cargo.

"Obviously there are security implications. We have always actively deterred lorry drivers sleeping overnight and have said to them that we don't want

them there.

"We don't provide overnight facilities but there are places that do en-route to the port."

The snack bar had to close for operational and safety reasons,

he added.

Lorry driver Bob Winter, 45, who uses Ipswich port twice a day, said: "I think the whole thing

is terrible.

"On Wednesday night I was waiting for a container and the boat was late. I couldn't go anywhere because I was waiting for the container to come off the boat. It came off at midnight.

"There were 35 trucks there. I was woken at 6.30am and told they had to park the trailers there.

"This guy came up and said it was a dock and that they didn't have have a sleeping area.

"It was the same with the other drivers. We are being treated like third-class citizens. But without us they wouldn't have the port.

"At the end of the day the tachograph dictates when you move and stop. Where else can we go – into a lay-by? Then they would move us off.

"The port has come up with this idea that they don't want us to eat or sleep. It seems lorries have got a bad reputation. It is the same old thing. People want their goods delivered, but not the truck.

"I have worked abroad – Holland, Belgium, Spain, France, all over the continent, and they welcome you. But not here, not your own country.

"I only wish the port would come down and speak to us so we can let them know how we feel."