Isle of Sheppey, Kent, U.K.
In this edition of “Take A Tour,” our exploration of car washes across the globe takes us to Isle of Sheppey, Kent, in southeast U.K. to visit Queenborough Services. Formerly a single rollover and jet wash facility, the site was rebuilt in May 2012 into a four-bay jet wash facility with four high-performance vacuums.
The thought process behind this renovation was to create an attractive, welcoming site where it is easy to park, convenient to shop and efficient to wash your car, said John Ryeland, managing director - retail operations and administration for George Hammond plc, a leading retailer in south east of England with seven BP-branded sites in Kent. Most sites in the U.K. tend to have a single rollover perhaps with a single jet wash, which invariably leads to queues and frustrated customers. “Having four bays means shorter queues but also conveys a sense of activity, which in itself develops confidence and generates interest and business,” Ryeland said. This strategy helps to combat the illegal hand car wash operations found throughout the U.K.
The bays all have wet system heating loops underneath to keep them ice-free. The lances all have purging systems to keep water flowing through them. This site is one of a handful in the U.K. with this system. Since it uses the hot water from the jet wash system to handle the process, the cost is minimal, Ryeland said. The site operates on well water, which after the costs of drilling and lining, filter checks and replacement, offers free water for life, plus protection against drought orders and hose pipe bans.
The side screens are made of polycarbonate so they can easily be replaced and are relatively cheap.
The end bay is left open-sided so that heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and small commercial vans can access the bays. The plant room is split into two with the boiler and water tanks in one section and all the electrical components, high pressure pumps, etc. in the other. All the parts are mainstream-branded, so they can be easily sourced in any country. The programming is all held in on-board CPU. The information is stored on an SD memory card, so if a processor fails, the operator can simply unplug and replace and upload the programs from the SD card. The computer tracks all usage, and the owners can remotely dial in to see sales performance and locate/diagnose faults.
The wash bays and vacuums all accept coins or the euro tag (RFID top up key). Customers pre-pay for credit on the tag and get an automatic 10 percent cash discount.
At the tanker delivery point. Vent pipes are fitted with vapor collection system that does not return vapor to the tanker but retains it in the site’s tank farm. This generates a high return on the investment with an average of 18-month payback.
Along with renewing the fueling points, the owners installed two fully equipped HGV lanes with products including Red diesel (low duty — for non-road use, cranes, agricultural vehicles, boats) and AdBlue, an additive used for HGV lorries to reduce emissions.
Customers love the wash and travel some distance to use the facility. The equipment has been reliable and the site has seen a broad spectrum of users.
Post-renovation, the size of the store increased from 70 to 240 square meters and now includes a Subway franchise along with a full convenience store, a license facility, ATM and in-store bakery.
The free-to-use ATM averages 15,000 customer transactions
per month.