Motorway service areas

[gavroche]

I never buy fuel in those places and can't understand anyone who does. Just fill up before you go, as for food, £3.99 for a sandwich is daylight robbery so take your own. I don't do fast food either so for me, I only stop for a rest, buy a magazine for my wife if she wants one or use the toilets.

 

[ufkacbln]

Where would all the 60's spies and gangsters have met if there had been no Service stations?

 

[T4tomo]

It irks me that a coffee costs a £1 more than the same rio off chains charge on the high street......

However, Greggs have started popping up at service stations now, selling very reasonable coffee around £2 a cup and their new range isn't all about greasy sausage rolls, so that's my food and drink recommendation. There is one a Ferrybridge A1M / M62 which is handily mid journey ish for my trips back up north.

 

[T4tomo]

Where would all the 60's spies and gangsters have met if there had been no Service stations?

Not to mention Brian Clough negotiated football transfers.

 

[Pale Rider]

Your grasp of posting on the internet is amazing for a newborn!

When lorry driving you probably visited more service areas in a week than I do in a year, but your experience doesn't accord with mine - most service areas are now clean and tidy.

The food and drink is OK as well, assuming you are prepared to eat stuff from the usual high street names.

 

[TVC]

I've not had a need to try Gloucester Services yet. Oxford Services on the M40 are my favourite, the outdoor seating on a summers day is quite pleasent. Knutsford on the M6 is pretty grim.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Their running costs are higher and they have an obligation to provide services to quite a large number of non-paying visitors so it's to be expected the prices are higher.

They're still shite though. Although if you find one with a Waitrose at least you can get some middle class nosh.

 

[pplpilot]

5 minutes away...

http://www.mymotorworld.com/peterkeep1.5/

 

[ufkacbln]

Some are now listed

Forton Services with its classic shaped tower and (now disused) dining area is one of them:

 

[Brandane]

When lorry driving you probably visited more service areas in a week than I do in a year, but your experience doesn't accord with mine - most service areas are now clean and tidy.

The food and drink is OK as well, assuming you are prepared to eat stuff from the usual high street names.

My recent (i.e. last 5 years) lorry driving was very much part time, about 2 or 3 days per week and mainly Glasgow to Aberdeen and back - so very few visits to services. The ones I did visit though (whether at work or in my own car/motorbike) I generally found that the standards have gone backwards. I agree they were bad in the 70's and 80's, then they seemed to modernise and improve for a while - but then came the recession and like most other businesses in the UK they tried to cut costs and they deteriorated. Maintenance and cleanliness were the areas where it was most obvious to the public.

 

[ufkacbln]

 

[cosmicbike]

It was a bit odd coming down the M3 to my mother's and not stopping at the Fleet Services for a coffee and to let Jack have a pee. They went up in flames last week.

I need to remember that as we usually stop in late night on the return from the outlaws in Weymouth. Only a loo stop, the van has a gas hob so we can stop anywhere and put the kettle on.

 

[vickster]

The sign for Beaconsfield services is a very welcome sight after a 2 hour rush crawl from Sutton when on the way to Wallingford...the loo sign inside is an even more welcome one!

They do a job when the loo (a darn sight better than those at similar in the continent, although they do need more handryers often) or a coffee is needed. Can't remember the last time I put petrol in at services.

 

[Dayvo]

I occasionally use the service stations and am always disgusted at the state of the toilets. However, I'm not directing my criticism at the cleaning staff, but at the dirty general public who leave a horrible mess behind them.

Whether it's spitting in the hand basins, using too much toilet paper and thus blogging it, water everywhere on the floor, WTF is wrong with people?

I don't generally eat anything,except for a bar of chocolate and a coffee, and take a bottle of water for the car/bus.

 

[nickyboy]

To all the folk complaining that they are expensive and you only go there to have a rest (free), go to the toilet (free).

You do know these facilities cost the operator money to provide for free for you don't you? That's why the sandwiches and petrol are relatively expensive. To pay for the free stuff