Services

Just watch out for the pot holes in the HGV area on the services - they are much larger than on the open highway.   Local services has traffic cones in some of them as they are large enough to do harm to to lorries!

The lunch break for HGVs is the most challenging time to arrive at services especially in the main summer holidays. The HGVs are under a legal pressure to stop and you may find them overspilling into caravan areas.

Other than that if you are leaving your van don't leave any valuables or documents on board. Make sure your outfit is in good running order and not overloaded, spot checks from traffic police often take place during busy summer travel.

The legal break of 45min  for HGVs must be  taken after a max stint of 4.5hrs at the wheel ,as we have found as posted elsewhere when trying to find somewhere for a PNB mid morning ,so HGVs may well fill services and laybys at any time of day

We bought a wheel clamp that takes literally seconds to put on the 'van wheel. Yes, it could probably be heaved off with strong leverage but it makes potential thieves think and hopefully move on.

Personally, I never use motorway services in the UK - they are congested, dirty, expensive and take away food is not for me. 

I always plan my journey to exit the motorway at a convenient superstore where I refuel and take a comfort/meal break, top up on shopping and then re-join the motorway to continue on my way.

The same system works very well for travelling long distances on the continent too, although I have been known to stop at the excellent Aires des pique-niques in France.

ET forgot to add the smiley. Surely you didn't take his comment re sites at face value.

ET's comment could be taken either way .... we don't usually leave our caravan unattended at services either but might even leave windows open & stuff outside it when we leave it on a site.

At first, I thought that caravans might be a tad more vulnerable; but, actually, on further thinking I thought, are they? There must be a lot of trouble to go to to get them unhitched and re-hitched. 

Anyway, whatever is true, I confess to never having worried about leaving my motorhome unattended at motorway services any more than I worry about my car at such places. Imagine how the services would perform if everyone thought like some here do. The risks are small.

I prefer motorway services to alternative stopping points for exactly the reason that you know what you are going to get and they are numerous, convenient and easy to access. On the whole I find them perfectly satisfactory - with the odd exception.  Usually there is dedicated parking - although it can often be hard to find - and, sometimes, though admittedly rarely, this is even monitored by a live human being. I do pick my times and always avoid peak periods. The food is expensive, true, for obvious reasons, but I usually confine myself to coffee and biscuits or a cake and usually at Costa (I avoid Welcome Breaks if I can). I completely disagree and reject the claim that motorway services are dirty. The lorry park can certainly get mucky but that is to be expected. I have never been subjected to a smell of urine. Perhaps I have been lucky. A surfeit of Willi Betz drivers might give cause for concern, but otherwise your average lorry driver, and I know a few, has the same respect for hygiene and decency as the rest of us. The muck in the lorry park is more about diesel and oil than anything else and this is largely unavoidable. If you can, do not park there.

The food areas are generally just as clean as any decent café or coffee shop in my experience. I do have my favourite services, but at any place, I do not get concerned. There's always a first time, but I have not had an issue yet and, at the end of the day, you decide how much trouble you want to go to or how much inconvenience you are happy to subject yourself to, in exchange for avoiding risk. For me, I'll take my chances; I see the risk as slight.    

If you're already on a motorway it seems a bit pointless to leave it in search of a better stopping place although we do it  to get cheaper fuel. Laybys near Mways are often full with commuter traffic parked up for the day. 

If we are on a motorway, and need a lunch break or comfort stop, we use the services.  Parking can be hit and miss, we often end up with the HGVs.

For lunch, we try to stop before 12.30, makes finding a space a little easier.

What we do not do is use the toilets or eating places, why would we when we have all we need in the caravan?

On other roads, we look for a lay by that is not too close to the traffic, usually not a problem.

When we are travelling with our young grandchildren, they think it is great fun to have a "picnic" in the caravan, and find all the lorries very interesting.