GARY THE DRAGON SLAYER
The Dragon slayer has arrived at Hartshead Moor Services on the M62.
Gary Taylor who featured on BBC's notorious Dragon's Den and won, has launched his revolutionary truck wash station at the motorway services.
The Hartshead Moor Truck Wash is the second to go live in Gary's planned drive to spread the service across the motorway network - the first at Stafford South is already a hit with hauliers and truck drivers alike.
Gary's company, Alpine Cleaning, has signed agreements with two of the major service station operators - Road Chef and Welcome Break - for the sole rights to truck washing on their service stations.
Gary said: "We are delighted to have opened at Hartshead Moor - one of the busiest service stations on the motorway network. Stafford South has completely outstripped my expectations and I feel sure Hartshead Moor will be just as successful.
"It is a very exciting stage of the business's development.
"The service isn't just a novelty - keeping trucks and trailers clean is very often a contractural requirement for many haulage companies but until now it wasn't an easy thing to do because of lack of opportunity.
"The truck wash stations are quick and highly effective as more and more drivers will inevitably find out. The equipment is ideal for all haulage and coach companies whatever the size of fleet, shape of vehicle or frequency of wash requirements."
Gary shot to fame earlier this year when he appeared on Dragons' Den. The five entrepreneurs usually reject most appeals for cash investment. But so impressive was Gary's pitch that four of the five, usually scathing multi-millionaires, were eager to invest in the business.
Gary said: "Our agreements with two of the biggest service station operators in the UK underline the potential of the business and it clearly impressed the Dragons. Their faith in me only really helped to hammer home exactly what a good business this is.
"During our negotiatons the truck wash at Stafford South went live and the impact was overwhelming I decided to say "thanks but no thanks" to the Dragons' offers of cash for a stake in the buisness."
Gary has since decided to merge with the UK's largest truck wash network, LPW Group, who have more than 35 year's experience in commercial vehicle cleaning and currently clean in excess of 15,000 trucks a week.
Operations director of LPW Group, Gary Moon, said: "The link between LPW and Alpine provides a fantastic choice of locations for truck cleaning, in order to maximise drivers' time and fit in with break schedules."