John Greenwood was a captain of the food service industry who as chief executive of the RoadChef chain of motorway service stations from 2001 to 2004 made sure that a decent cup of coffee was finally available to British motorists.

I know that it’s a general rule in obituaries not to speak ill of the dead, and I’m sure that John Greenwood was a very competent chief executive. But it’s rather stretching a point to give the impression that he alone, or even that RoadChef, finally gave MSA customers what they want.

The obit goes on to say this about Norton Canes:

Resembling a Scandinavian airport lounge rather than a traditional roadside greasy spoon, the £15 million complex boasted sleek furnishings, food cooked to order and, most importantly, clean, modern washrooms and lavatories. It set the benchmark for the industry.

Again, this looks like hyperbole to me. I’ve used Norton Canes and, while it’s certainly better than most, it’s not outstandingly so. And it’s nothing particularly special, in terms of design - it’s pretty much the same as all of the newer generation of MSAs. And “food cooked to order” was actually a feature of most of the earliest MSAs - until the operators realised that most customers wanted simply wanted fast food instead. Plus ca change.

Motorway service stations in England could be given hotel-style star ratings in an effort to improve quality, the government has said.

The “quality scheme” would look at factors including food and drink, toilets and general cleanliness.

Apart from the fact that this seems a clear rip-off of our own burger ratings, it seems like a reasonable idea. The real question is whether or not the ratings scheme will take account of what people really want in an MSA, rather than what the Highways Agency thinks they ought to want.

There’s more information on the proposals in the Highways Agency press release, and the full text of the report is also available as a PDF download.