JUST weeks after the second hijacking of a lorry driver on the A14, The Hunts Post has learned a secure truckstop is under threat. The Nightowl facility at Alconbury has been put up for sale, leaving staff anxious about their jobs. The popular truckstop,

JUST weeks after the second hijacking of a lorry driver on the A14, The Hunts Post has learned a secure truckstop is under threat.

The Nightowl facility at Alconbury has been put up for sale, leaving staff anxious about their jobs.

The popular truckstop, which has space for 200 trucks and includes a motel and truck wash, has been open for 15 years but the land may be sold for warehouses.

Nightowl Alconbury manager Livia Barnard said: "We don't know what is going on.

"It would be a disaster if we closed - we are full up every night. The lay-bys on the A14 are already choc-a-bloc. Where are people going to park?"

The site, which covers 10 acres, also has a bar, television lounge, shops and a restaurant and offers truck drivers a secure place to stop.

Last month, two lorries were hijacked from lay-bys on the A14, with the drivers forced to accompany the hijackers to the north-west before being released.

Hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of equipment was stolen in the raids.

Pat Nicholson, trustee of the March-based Professional Drivers' Association, said: "There is a dreadful shortage of secure overnight parking for HGV drivers in Cambridgeshire, so how can the closure of a secure lorry park even be considered?"

A spokesman for Bidwells property agents confirmed to The Hunts Post that the land, estimated to be worth in the region of £5million, is under offer.

No senior management of the Nightowl firm were available for comment as The Hunts Post went to press.

* Sixty-nine calls regarding the A14 hijackings had last night been received by the police as a result of a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction shown on Monday evening.

Det Insp Craig Harrison, who helped to answer the phones on the programme, said: "We had a lot of calls from members of the public suggesting who might be behind this. All leads will be followed up."

INFORMATION: Anyone with information on the hijackings, which took place in the early hours of March 14 and March 25, should call Cambridgeshire police on 0845 4564564 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.