And I measured it. As the crow flies it’s 700metres.

The security contract is being handled by Mitie. Which is a shame because there is a very very good local company – Corvus down in Bethesda. However the amount of people involved in the security set-up may have made it difficult for them and HMRC/Border Force have national contracts. That said, all the security recruited are locals, and because of the higher pay on offer, many have come from the lower paid port security, Road King itself and the supermarket security – which in turn creates entry slots in those places. Border Force and HMRC are I believe already in the process of recruiting, to be trained by the end of this year. Again it’s aimed at locals although I dare say at senior level they will be promotions moved in from elsewhere because of experience for a good few years while locals work their way up the ranks.

Hopefully the jobs go to locals as much as is reasonable, obviously skillsets depending and that, and it’s not stuffed with blow-ins.

Probably. I know that RoadKing’s site will be the main complex, (I know some of the people who started working there in the last week doing security. Some former RoadKing staff and some quit Port security because the pay and shift pattern are superior both in rota and more hours) but they’ve also taken 3 or 4 other undeveloped plots along that road apparently for an office complex, ‘bonded goods’ compound etc etc so that may be one of them.

There is a makeshift looking, ‘dirt road’ sort of lorry parking area in the vicinity now, a little down the road from the Road King itself. The Travelodge is almost certainly half a mile or more from Parc Cybi (or whatever it’s called now; the site where Road King/Premier Inn sit). It’s past the first flyover of the A55 heading east, which itself is a good half-mile from the terminal roundabout.

It is nice to hear there is some good news for the town, in terms of jobs of some substance finally materialising at this long-underused site (which as always, was heralded to bring great opportunities). It’s fortuitous that Brexit didn’t steer all the through traffic away too, as there’d have been no jobs for any sod then.

I’d say Travellodge is closer than half a mile – just the other side of the roundabout. No more than a third of a mile I reckon. But I believe it’s almost certainly linked to RoadKing.

They need the space to process the loads as they enter/leave the EU frontier. The UK government trod very lightly over this – it could have just slammed in a CPO without consulting the Welsh Government or the Council, but instead chose to involve them and look at alternatives and all they did was hum, hah and drag their feet. Time ran out.

The owners the first time they tried to buy it back in December nearly tore their hands off as it has failed to meet expectations revenue-wise, and agreed to the offer then in less than a couple of hours. Same happend this time (although I believe they took a couple of hours longer to agree to the offer). RoadKing had initially planned to build a series of these on the approaches to all the ferry ports but the difficulties they had with the council getting this one cleared for planning, and the operating costs being way more than anticipated meant that they sacked the idea. The original ‘start-up’ manager ( Scottish guy who I got to know quite well), went out to the far east (Hong Kong/China I believe) which is where they are now planning to open a series of truck stops. UK operations will remain just the very first original one down near Cannock – The Hollies, now upgraded and expanded.

Part of their business model was I believe, reliant on a projected increase in traffic during the new Wylfa build and to that end they had even taken out ‘options’ on adjoining land ready to rapidly expand once the Wylfa build started. Wylfa new build however, has bit the dust for the next decade at least.

I suspect you’re mixing it up with the Premier Inn next door. Unless they ‘hit’ the Travelodge half a mile away instead to throw ’em off the scent. Is that lorry park somewhere they can be directed to in surges of influx to avoid queues building up in and out of the town, or is it a sort of ‘naughty step’ for those who’ve turned up without proper papers to go and wait it out until the next sailing pending proper documentation?

I guess Turks living on the west bank of the Bosphorous don’t count and are not subject to their ‘protections’.

Some are more equal than others.

Trouble is, it’s more believable than the reality – which is truly dystopian.