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Over the years I have built up a knowledge of supermarkets within a few minutes of motorway junctions. They provide the same basic services as an MSA, food, fuel and toilets, and often much more, but are cheaper, often cleaner, and certainly less frenetic. This is easily done in these days of satnav and the interweb. Does anyone else use this facility and avoid the MSA's like the plague?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 22 May 10 at 12:46
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Good thinking ON. If you need to refuel you'll probably save a fiver before you start.
I don't mind dropping in to a MSA for a snack if there's a M&S or Waitrose; other than that, a wide berth.
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The food in most of them is overpriced muck so it's sandwiches and a flask if I am on a long journey. Having a diesel means I never have to fill up on the motorway, though I enjoy stretching my legs on the way to using their facilities which are generally clean and tidy.
Nipping off the M/way is fine, but can be very time consuming after you have negotiated the inevitable roundabout with badly timed traffic lights that they seem to be sticking eveywhere now.
Last edited by: Robin Regal on Sat 22 May 10 at 13:21
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I have seen people queueing on the motorway to get into a packed MSA at busy times when I know there is a supermarket with a (probably) half empty car park within 15 minutes drive, and near a nearby junction. Dont people who rarely travel "off their patch" ever plan a journey?
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sat 22 May 10 at 13:29
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>>I enjoy stretching my legs on the way to using their facilities which are generally clean and tidy.
Likewise. I might also purchase a pastie and a small bottle of water if I'm feeling generous.
I didn't get where I am today by buying petrol in such places.
:)
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Whilst a lot cheaper than MSAs in my experience the food in supermarket restaurants can leave a lot to be desired. On a long journey I find a decent pub (I always keep a copy of The Good Pub Guide in the car). Nearly all pubs these day will serve you a coffee if that all you want. A lot more comfortable than the average MSA.
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This site is useful in the context:
www.offmotorway.com/
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I agree with the pub option, we tend to go for that if a meal is required, and treat the supermarkets as an alternative to a MSA basic facility stop.
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What I dislike particularly about MSAs is the noise. After being on the motorway for several hours I crave some peace and quiet. What you get is piped music , computer games machines and hundreds and hundreds of people. Give me a quiet pub any day. MSAs are an earthly glimpse of hell.
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There is also www.5minutesaway.co.uk/
For a quiet pub, there is the Quiet Pint Guide
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Often use the sainsburys in bracknel when cutting down from the M4 to the M3 or when taking the kids to legoland. Has a starbucks to so you can get a reasonable coffee.
Big sainsburys just of the reading M4 junction to - handy for fuel
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I don't usually eat or drink at MSA's but the supermarket alternative isn't as good any more since Tesco ditched many of their quite good cafes for costalot coffee or whatever they are.
The best alternative of course is the good old transport cafe, though getting thin on the ground now.
I'll tell you a good one that you'd never find...Maple Cross, just off jct 17 M25 head towards Denham on the old main road and it comes up on the right beside the first set of traffic lights, easy U turn for trucks too for return to motorway...i've been using that place ever since i've driven trucks, still about £4.25 for a full hearty breaky incl tea or coffee.
None of that overblown overrated airated muck they pass off as coffee at eye watering prices either.
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The services on the M6 Toll is always pretty quiet!
I find it slightly odd that people pay to use the toll road then stop at the services - I only ever stop at any MSA if I'm busting for the toilet.
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When we go to visit my son, we tend to stop off at the local farmshop which has a cafe attached. The sell a cooked breakfast which is cooked freshly to order and its very reasonable. Nice way to line the stomach before facing the wicked witch I had a child with :-)
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>> Big sainsburys just of the reading M4 junction to - handy for fuel
Off J12 - used to go there on Saturday mornings with son for a cooked breakfast between music lesson and band. Just be aware that they changed to a 'cook to order' system a few years ago, so you can end up waiting half an hour for your food after paying for it, even when the queue is short.
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I generally despise service stations on the motorway. The only one I have any time for is Tebay on the M6. Much rather would pull of and find a supermarket, chippy or pub. Now we've got a toddler a good park or stretch of open ground is a real bonus.
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...The only one I have any time for is Tebay on the M6...
The place needed a good wash and brush-up last time I was there.
I've seen better tables at the tip.
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Last time I was there, Tebay was dirty and smelly and the food mediocre.
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On my sat nav, I have all the major supermarkets, and dinning pubs listed as POI's. On a longish journey, I plan a stop before we go.
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On a long run I take a flask. Motorway services would be OK if it wasn't for the sort of people who use them......
:-)
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yes, all those Ford drivers, shocking.
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....and smelly old people in cheap Far Eastern cars.
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indeed, but one gets a nice space round one in a crowded resturant
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They are generally a rip off though McDonalds have a very fair policy of consistent pricing so if you fancy a Big Mac and shake it will cost you no more at a McDs services than any other McDs. Burger King on the otherhand charge extortionate prices in m/way service areas.
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Can't get worked up about MSA negatives. On a 500ml holiday trip we will probably stop once. Might cost the family £8 more overall than somewhere local. Really can't be bothered to head off to some hidden delight when it may waste 30 miles travelling time compared with getting straight back down the slip road back onto my route.
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"Burger King on the otherhand charge extortionate prices in m/way service areas."
Yes I could never understand why a bacon double cheeseburger is a pound dearer in a service station than it is on Regent Street.
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...than it is on Regent Street....
Burger King on Regent Street?
I don't think so.
The street is owned by the Crown Estate and they operate a strict quality control policy on tenants.
That's why you'll not find a newsagent or tat shop - just places such as Aquascutum, the Cafe Royal, and Dickins and Jones.
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There is one, it's the other side of Oxford Street, whether it's still classed as Regent Street I'm not sure but my point is the same
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BBD,
Agreed.
The posher bit is the sweep from Oxford Circus down to Piccadilly Circus.
The Crown Estate might have lost control of the odd property over the years, and I'm not sure if they ever owned the bit north of Oxford Circus.
Last edited by: ifithelps on Sun 23 May 10 at 09:00
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I remember it because I took a one-night-stand in there for breakfast whilst I figured out how to get rid of her.
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>> I remember it because I took a one-night-stand in there for breakfast whilst I figured
>> out how to get rid of her.
You are a div at times Dave. You are trying to get rid of a beer glasses pull, and you buy her a meal? That like trying to get rid of a stray cat by feeding it.
sheez
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If she had any class a breakfast at Maccie D's should have been warning enough to her.
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If she had any class she wouldn't have spent the night with me on an office sofa...
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It's 300 Regent Street. It's Burger King. It's next to Macdonalds. And it's opposite a newsagent.
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...It's 300 Regent Street. It's Burger King. It's next to Macdonalds. And it's opposite a newsagent...
Yep, it's the cheap tatty bit near Portland Place.
Very 'trade' if you ask me.
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So how did you get rid of her BBD?!
I find Motorway places too noisy, crowded, full of bovine coach parties milling around and troublesome kids running amok. Queues for everything. Yuk, keep driving!
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>> I find Motorway places too noisy, crowded, full of bovine coach parties milling around and
>> troublesome kids running amok. Queues for everything. Yuk, keep driving!
>>
Got it spot on Nick.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 23 May 10 at 09:55
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What Nick said. I use the toilet facilities at need, and occasionally have a tachograph break on the lorry park if there's no supermarket nearby, but it'll be a cold day in hell before I buy anything more than a newspaper from an MSA shop.
When travelling on the bikes we do occasionally have to refuel on the motorway as Mrs. H's Sportster has the annoyingly small but very fashionable small fuel tank which limits its range to about 80 miles. We have just sourced a second-hand larger tank which is being painted so even this will hopefully become a thing of the past.
Even sweets and snacks at MSA's are disgracefully overpriced compared to supermarkets and even corner shops. I mentioned this to an assistant one day at Reading services I think, got the stock reply of "Well sir we're open 24 hours a day". My reply, "So are Tesco and they charge half the price" didn't go down too well.
Incidentally, one of the worst ripoffs is the amount they charge HGV's for overnight parking. Some are nearly at the £30 mark; they do offer a meal voucher included in that but only the brave or terminally desperate eat in there, and even with the discount a decent meal sets you back a lot more than a pub. At some of the smaller services you can't even get a shower, and even where there are such facilities they tend to be shabby and dirty. Many will have one shower to serve the needs of up to 50 drivers parking overnight. If that was the ratio in a prison there'd be a riot, but as usual the poor lorry driver has to put up with it.
Last edited by: Webmaster on Fri 28 May 10 at 11:54
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>> as usual the poor lorry driver has to put up with it.
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Excellent post there HarleyM, difficult to find anything to disagree with.
Last edited by: Webmaster on Fri 28 May 10 at 11:54
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There is the occasional fairly priced item in service area shops.
At each of my last few visits, the shop at Bowburn on the A1(M) in County Durham has had price marked king size Aero bars for a £1.
Last time, they also had Cadbury's Dairy Milk for 99p.
Decisions, decisions....
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"but it'll be a cold day in hell before I buy anything more than a newspaper from an MSA shop."
That essentially sums up the problem with how MSAs are funded in this country compared with other European countries.
In the UK the MSA operator has to fund all the facilities such as car parking, toilets, maintenance of picnic areas, and even surfacing of slip roads from profits on sales of goods and meals. since most people using MSAs, including me, never buy anything the costs are loaded on the small proportion of people who do actually purchase anything.
In France the cost of basic provision such as toilets and car parking are met by the Highways agency. This allow a French cafe located at a service area to offer much cheaper prices. It also allows for the provision of simple service areas consisting of a toilet block and a picnic site as their is no need for a commercial operation to fund the facilities.
You decide which system has produced the better results for motorists.
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>>
>> In the UK the MSA operator has to fund all the facilities such as car
>> parking, toilets, maintenance of picnic areas, and even surfacing of slip roads from profits on
>> sales of goods and meals. since most people using MSAs, including me, never buy anything
>> the costs are loaded on the small proportion of people who do actually purchase anything.
>>
My heart bleeds for those poor operators. Must be terrible struggling to make a living doing that.
For as long as I can remember, there have been complaints about the abysmal state of our motorway services; I remember a survey in my father's copy of the AA's "Drive" magazine back in the mid 1970's which said pretty much what we say today.
The bottom line is that they're a goldmine; all this cock about having to spend so much on toilet rolls etc is pure sophistry. The operating companies spend as little as possible on them whilst charging as much as they can, knowing that they'll still sell stuff to families with whingy kids, reps with charge cards and people who are basically stuck with no option.
Most entrances are stacked high with cheap tat, the staff are often surly and the food is an overpriced insult to the human palate. Tacking a Waitrose or M&S on the side is not the answer.
The real winner would be an operator who went in there and started doing what the public wanted; I'm only surprised that Tesco haven't gone into it in a big way.
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I'm not saying that they are not profitable - they are. Its just that the business model of loading all the costs of running an MSA produces high costs for the small percentage who buy anything there and zero costs for those who don't.
The european model produces far better results in my opinion. Many of the French Aires de Repos are a pleasure to visit..
MSAs are prohibited by law from selling a full range of goods as the intention is to stop them becoming a "destination" in their own right. That is why they sell that strange range of useless tat and that is why you won't find one run by Tesco
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ive never quite understood why some harleys have tiny petrol tanks, my little 2 stroke suzuki had an oil tank bigger than those harley petrol tanks
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>>> but as usual the poor lorry driver has to put up with it. <<<
The same poor lorry driver who can't be bothered to walk to to the toilets and has the whole service area smelling of wee?
The same one who uses the showers and gets them into that state?
With respect HM, the ladies showers are always clean....we leave them that way.
Must be the same one who tosses the rubbish out of his cab instead of putting in one of the thousands of bins, or tosses bottles of 'Lucozade' out of the window on the way out in the morning?
We tried to improve things at MSA's for lorry drivers some years ago and in the course of this I had many meetings with Welcome Break, Moto and Roadchef.
Without fail I was totally embarrassed at having to explain the reason for my colleagues behaviour.
Why is the price of parking high? To cover the costs.
And do you know what's funny? Whatever lorry driver I talk to, it's never, ever him that does any of this:)
Pat
Last edited by: Webmaster on Fri 28 May 10 at 11:55
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Pat, I can't argue with most of your comments, they're the sort of things that irk me too.
Perhaps, though, if there were more decent parking areas readily available, drivers would not get into the habit of treating MSA's as they do lay-bys.
I do disagree, however, about the costs. In my opinion the price of parking is high to discourage HGV drivers from parking there in the first place, as they take up valuable space which could be filled by more profitable car parking.
If they make so much money, they could perhaps try paying a member of staff to empty those bins (funny how there aren't so many at the services I visit) on a regular basis.
As for the difference twixt the ladies and mens showers; well I'm sure you do leave them clean, so do I, but I only leave them clean I don't scrape the mildew off the walls, fix the leaking tap or re-point the tiling. That was the point I was making as I'm sure you're aware.
One other thing; if I was paying thirty quid to park my vehicle for eleven hours, I'd expect at least a security patrol if not an enclosed and secure parking area. As you are fully aware, theft from vehicles parked in MSA's is rife and the owners just shrug their shoulders. The police, having palmed off most of their duties onto HATO, are as much use as a chocolate teapot in this respect, you rarely even see them supping coffee in MSA's these days.
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I do agree with some of your comments HM and there are many MSA's where the police have a station but you never, ever see them having a ride around in the evening or during the night.
I know that Moto have to employ cleaners to spray down the lorry park 3 times a day in hot weather, not the car park, so that is a cost directly attributable to lorry drivers. Regarding them not wanting us there, they have no choice.
Each service area has to designate a percentage of their total parking area to lorries so they shot me down in flames with that argument too:)
I work closely with Night Owl and they do have secure parking but even so, they fitted a brand new shower during one day at Rugby, and that very night it was ripped off the wall and left on the floor??
Why do we give ourselves such a bad name?
I was waiting for deisel one day at Strensham northbound and one of Owens was on the pumps. He walked into the shop to hand in his card, past the toilets. He came out and started the pump and proceeded to have a wee up the side of his deisel tank while it was filling. He then walked past the toilets again to go and sign for his deisel. I had to follow him on to the pump and stand in it, taking it into the cab on my shoes. The cab I live in all week.
When I asked him why he didn't use the toilet all I got was 'Why should I?'
'What's it got to do with you?'
What a great exercise in Customer Service from a firm who deliver, among other stuff, food products.
Pat
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"So how did you get rid of her BBD?!"
Pushed her off a routemaster
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she said it was less pain than knowing you
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Motorway service area avoidance. - Manatee
