Comments for Motorway Services Blog

Comment on Fighting parking penalties by Jennie

Jennie — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:29:29 +0000

On a related note, thank you motorwayservices.info for mentioning that cars can park at Chieveley Services for £10 for 2-24 hours outside the Travelodge, rather than paying Moto’s extortionate £25 for the same thing just 50 yards away!!!

After finding this out from your website, I checked Chieveley’s official webpage (on the Moto website) where they completely neglected to mention the £10 parking option.

I emailed Chieveley Services to confirm the prices of parking available, and Customer Services told me that I would have to pay £25 for the privelidge of parking there, again completely neglecting to mention the cheaper £10 option.

In short – if at Chievely park outside the Travelodge, oh and Chieveley Services’ Customer Services representatives are underhand, upselling and misleading the public into paying more than double what is necessary to park. They are a disgrace.

Comment on Parking: some changes which will affect motorway services by Eddie Muirhead

Eddie Muirhead — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:23:42 +0000

I travel all over Europe and as far as I am aware this is the only country to charge for Motorway parking. I am in France most weeks and find that not only is the parking free but the facilities are often better. It is more relaxing knowing that you can stay as long as you like without having to watcch the clock.
From a road safty point of view if a driver is tired he is unlikly to have a snooze in case he oversleeps and if he were to use a layby he runs the risk of another vehicle running into him, conclusion is that the safe place is barred unless you are prepared to pay for a whole days parking.
an interesting point to note is that 100 lorries parked @ £20.00 each equates to £2000 per night for very little additional outlay The drivers still having to buy food etc (although HGV’s do get some discount in the form of a food voucher). I think that collecting £10,000 a week is quite a good revenue earner. (This money that the frieght companies are paying is coming indirectly from the general public in the form of the price of the goods purchased in shops that they deliver to)

Comment on What really needs fixing at MSAs by Cleaning Services Surrey

Cleaning Services Surrey — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:26:02 +0000

I think it is a bit harsh to state they are not clean – some of the Services are very clean and indeed Medway, for example, has just had new toilet installed and they are kept very clean. Bear in mind that these are very high use areas and hard to keep constantly spotless.
But more important than anything in my view is to get a cultural shift that says we can have small local firms operating at service stations rather than the large and faceless ones we have at present

Comment on VisitEngland Launches Star Rating Scheme for Motorway Service Areas by D finch

D finch — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:18:20 +0000

Rather than give the current services a star rating I would like to see a campaign by visit england and others to get our Service up to the standard of Western European ones. If you go to the continent, rather than high fat fast food, they serve the kind of food you would expect over here in a deli- in other words fresh local fruit and vegetables, pickles, fresh bread and cheese. They are not dominated by huge faceless chains.

Comment on Gloucester Gateway gets the go ahead by Paul Mossman

Paul Mossman — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:21:48 +0000

I have and continue to supply Tebay with my hand thrown pottery.They are truely proffessional and very prompt payers.
I started supplying Rheged and now supply all aspects of their business including the hotel.
my oppinion could not be more different from Gor above
I would love to supply the new venture and support such an ecco ,innovative business venture where peoples skills are really appreciated.paul

Comment on Fighting parking penalties by FRANK BOYCE

FRANK BOYCE — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:25:28 +0000

As an LGV driver coming out of Cornwall to go anywhere I have to use the motorways, usually the M5 and M4 mainly, driving early morning or through the night, most of my work is to the eastern counties so I am frequently on the M4 corridor driving through the night, no services on the Motorways offer a hot meal during the night for drivers who normally work on nights, and also the parking is limited to 2 hours, as an LGV driver I have the option of reducing my nightly rest period to 9 hours instead of 11 hours, if I have a 3 hour rest period during my driving time, as the services restrict parking to 2 hours, I am not able to do this, unless I leave the motorway system and park in a layby,( if I can find one)as motorway services are obliged to allow you to park for 2 hours free,I dont see any reason why this should not be increased to 3 hours in order for LGV drivers to take advantage of the reduced nightly break.Also they should be forced to indicate that the 2 hour free parking, includes fuelling up, etc, and clearly indicate that the 2 hour restriction is to the site not simply parking.

Comment on Parking: some changes which will affect motorway services by billstickers

billstickers — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 14:17:57 +0000

quote the above to someone and this was their reply:
Sorry but this is out of date ..the Bill was amended in the Commons to allow for a notice to keeper to be issued using ANPR..this is still being debated in the Lords so we are a long way off it becoming law.

Also the statement “will be able to get it from the keeper” is more than a little disingenous ..all it means is they would be able to attempt to get it from the keeper via the small claims court …most private parking companies don’t like to do court..they have a proven track record of losing !

It appears to me that with so called “keeper liability” in the offing the BPA / Private Parking Industry are quite keen to promulgate the myth that not knowing who was driving is the ONLY reason they can’t recover their charges in a small claims court action …this of course is nowhere near the truth.

ps: not sure who wrote the article you quote but they clearly don’t know what they are talking about ..the bill does indeed ban clamping and other forms of immobilisation like blocking in . it also bans towing. And yes some MSA’s have been known to use both clamping and towing in the past !

Comment on VisitEngland Launches Star Rating Scheme for Motorway Service Areas by Jozef Nakielski

Jozef Nakielski — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 00:11:00 +0000

I’m not sure where these people have got their ratings from but they obviously haven’t visited all of the sites in the UK.
Beaconsfield should surely get recognition for its superbly landscaped site, lake and walk. Likewise for outside views…again Beaconsfield for its lake, Stafford lake viewable inside and out last time I visited. Although not a view, Oxford fish and fountain ponds surely should get recognition in both views and landscape.

Comment on Site redesign by Yvonne Harvey

Yvonne Harvey — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 19:41:41 +0000

I would like some consideration to the parking of caravans for disabled drivers or passengers of disabled drivers. I was given an £84 ticket at Exeter Services for parking in a coach park at 13.30 while using the toilet facilities. I was first told disabled drivers don’t drive caravans and in any case I should use the lorry park.For 17 years I have used the coach park near the facilities , which at the early hours of the morning is very quiet.Now with new owners, new rules and new large bank balance from new charges.The annoying thing about my fine was there were four BOOT’s lorries parked waiting for the arrival of new loads to switch over, and then exchanging cabs and rear ends of lorries filling the parking area.
So advice on where the new extended length disabled bays are to be found. I have been informed by the Disabled Motorists Federation that Motorways are being required by law to include this longer facility at service areas.

Comment on Gloucester Gateway gets the go ahead by Mike

Mike — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:44:50 +0000

Here’s hoping that one can find a sandwich without mayonnaise at these independant sites. If you don’t like mayo, there is little choice at the other MSAs. Of course, taking your own food with you means you only need to use the bathrooms at these very expensive rest stops.