48 hours at France's biggest truckers' restaurant, months before the election
A France Télévisions reporter spent two days at L'Escale, near Châteauroux, to hear what truckers and staff worry about before the presidential vote.
Breakfast at 5 a.m., diesel on everyone's mind and a presidential election on the horizon. That's life at "L'Escale", billed as the biggest truckers' restaurant in France.
A France Télévisions team moved in for 48 hours to see what people talk about over a hot meal.
What happened?
L'Escale is a roadside institution near Châteauroux, on the route between Paris and Toulouse. Reporter Julien Benedetto spent two days there for the "Mag du 20h" (France Télévisions' evening news magazine). It is part of a weekly series ahead of the presidential election, where a familiar face from the network sits down with people around a meal.
At the tables, he met truck drivers, families heading off on holiday and locals. The restaurant wakes up at 5 a.m., and the first customers are usually drivers having breakfast before many long hours on the road.
What are people worried about?
Fuel prices come up first. Drivers say they are hit hard by the rise and blame the government for doing nothing.
They also feel judged. "People see us as a nuisance, but they forget we're carrying their goods in that truck," one of them said, bitterly. Several said they are saddened by how the French see their profession. Many describe a tough lifestyle that sometimes costs them their families.
Staff share the frustration. Everyone works 40 hours a week for between 2,000 and 2,500 euros net. One employee asked politicians to stop making people dream and to deliver something concrete, starting with more buying power.
The man running the place
Dominique Thomas, 68, has run L'Escale for 20 years. He is there every day, weekends included, for lunch and dinner service. He has to be fast, manage his team and still be warm with customers.
Hiring is his biggest challenge. After Covid, a third of his employees didn't want to come back. Finding skilled people willing to accept the constraints of the job is hard, he admits, and his family life suffers.
Why it still matters
For drivers, stopping in the evening, meeting friends, sharing a drink or a hot meal and putting the world to rights brings real comfort. In a few months, many of them will be hoping candidates have heard what was said at those tables.
