A sweet delivery

I'm sorry about the corny title but it's not just because I was delivering to British Sugar.




I had just been in Hunstanton, a pretty seaside town I visit with my family a couple of times a year.

It looked great in the early morning with the sun flickering over the sea.

I wanted to stop and stare out at it all day, but I didn't.

I had to find this sugar factory and I was due at a Somerfield in Huntingdon for 12.


I didn't have a very good address for British sugar, just the name of the village so I headed that way thinking I'd see a sign eventually.

When I didn't see any signs I rang the number on the paperwork. "No problem" said the man on the end of the phone, "it happens a lot."

He gave me a postcode that took me most of the way to the factory and because it was so big, it wasn't hard to find after that.

Getting in, was a completely different story though.

I was directed to the weighbridge where I was told to park up and find my way out through the gates and into the public car park on foot, look for the reception and get a drivers passport.

Once issued with my drivers passport I was to come back the way I had come and then swipe my drivers passport on the weighbridge and then drive down to the stores.

When I arrived at the reception there was a queue of people waiting to see the overworked receptionist and she was pretty good at dealing with us all at the same time and letting us know she was aware of us without the others feeling they were being ignored, She had a skip driver waiting for her to find out who he was meant to be delivering to, she had a lady refusing to wear a hard hat and goggles , she had a constant stream of gate pass requests for various tradesmen and builders and she had me.

I had to sit at a table and complete a health and safety quiz, Six multiple choice questions on the rules of the site, All the answers were in a book they provided. I had to read through it to get them.
Then I had to sit on another chair and have my picture taken, Smile !

Then I was issued with my Driver passport, I could walk the ten minutes back through the car park, over the weighbridge and swipe my self back in. Then I could start looking for the stores!

I was amazed at the size and scale of the plant and these pictures that follow are just taken at random as I drove around, un-escorted and un- challenged but with my drivers passport!

When I found the stores I tried to make sense of their system but it was actually pretty basic.

It involved pressing this button and then waiting.( yes I know they are upside down , its driving me mad but I cant budge them ! )

I got my salad box out of my bag and prepared to put the waiting time to good use by eating, but it wasn't long before a forklift appeared and I was unloaded.

An hour to get in, and hour to get my driver passport and 5 minutes to get unloaded great.



The Fens are home to lots of these but most are actually on the water.

Wales was a really easy day, but Bristol got a little complicated when I tried to tip at Dixons.

The sign says drivers, but its a lie, the drivers room is actually between to massive water towers on your left.
The drivers room is pushed out the back in between the two ugly towers and has a few scrap chairs from out of the staff canteen sprinkled about , rotting in the rain,with puddles collecting in the seats.


I don't mean to sound thick but these places are built to unload lorry's, I think I'm right in thinking that.

They usually have up to a hundred bays that Lorry's are supposed to back up to and be emptied, for there convenience and profit. So how the Effing hell do they think these hundreds of Lorry's get there?

These places usually brand new as well so why on earth not plan for the daily arrival of large amounts of new drivers that will be unfamiliar with their surroundings and in need of some basic and friendly advice on the procedures.


Just my opinion.