Have your say on Motorway Service Areas

Hopefully by then battery technology will have moved on and ranges will be significantly extended. If not I can't see many wishing to use an EV for extended motorway journeys. 

However, in the interim, It does raise an interesting point. Currently you can't charge more for electric than you pay for it, plus a bit for infrastructure. So a bit different to the fuel stations where you pay 20 / 25 p more a litre. I can't see the service areas being happy providing all these recharging points and not making any money out of them.

However, in the interim, It does raise an interesting point. Currently you can't charge more for electric than you pay for it, plus a bit for infrastructure. So a bit different to the fuel stations where you pay 20 / 25 p more a litre. I can't see the service areas being happy providing all these recharging points and not making any money out of them.
 

Possibly zero charge for electricity and a timed parking charge at hook up parking

On Tebay services I have seen the staff there ask cars to move when they have parked in the long bays suitable for caravans.  The signage is on the roadway and many car driver ignore it.  Tebay and Gloucester are the same company.

It may also be useful for you to write this in response in the appropriate section of the questionnaire.  Do pass the link on to anyone else too.

https://www.snapsurveys.com/wh/s.asp?k=152145866477

David

When we had a caravan we never ever left the caravan unattended as an insurance requirement was that it should have its hitch-lock & alko wheel lock fitted if left unattended.. Frankly we never thought it worth the hassle just to get some overpriced junk food so always stayed with the outfit. Never bought fuel on a motorway either.

Now we have a motor-home, we are no longer governed by any insurance limitations, but still stay in the van. All we need ever, is somewhere to park for a quick comfort break and perhaps something of our own to eat. I don't imagine we have ever had any financial impact on any service stations revenues so am not surprised that dedicated parking places are not provided.

Thanks DSB, again fell at the first hurdle being a non towing motorhomer.

I agree with Justus2 that we rarely contribute to the services, unless absolutely necessary BUT I thought they were designed to allow breaks whilst driving, making the entire motorway system safer. We require 1.5 car length space or are quite happy with a decent space we can overhang. Again I agree that it is unlikely folks will their caravan unattended for the reason justus2 states. Do lorry drivers contribute? By the smell I'm not sure they avail themselves of the facilities 😲.

Rowena out of interest have you raised the issue of motorhomes? After all the fanfare, cost etc of the  name change is it just that? No interest in motorhome concerns.

Peterborough services is a joke, there is only one caravan space that I have seen and that's in the lorry section 90 degrees to the lorries so easy-to-use. But my unit is 43 feet and just about fills it! 

Last summer I pulled into Woodall msa south bound and followed the caravan signs, we ran out of signs in the lorry section and parked under a sign that warns of fines if you park in the wrong place!

I used to be a hgv1 driver and have stopped in many msa's. I have found the best time to travel is at night, I usually start about 21:00 hrs, when I need to stop if the caravan bay's and lorry bay's are full then there's usually plenty of spaces in the car park.

I only tend to use msa's to have a quick nap when tired

Unfortunately I came to this thread too late to complete survey. But like others, I find the lack of designated caravan/MH parking an important safety issue. We have recently done Scotland to Dover to Scotland (not in one day!), on some of our major UK roads, both weekday and Sunday. Few services offered proper parking and even if they did, we had to drive on to the next area, on more than one occasion to find a space. Cars and vans parked in caravan bays were a constant. It is tiring to drive a large vehicle and rest stops are a necessity. The caravan and motorhome clubs DO need to lobby on this issue. If we are to believe the reports that van and MH owners are increasing in double digit percentages, year on year, this is only going to become much, much worse.

I frequently end up in with the hgv's due to the caravan parking being taken up with work vans also found it awkward following the signage for caravans most times. We resently tried to park  in  services but could not due work vans and cars, we moved on, on our third motorway services try we managed  to park.

Stopped at Birchanger Green services on the way to Dover. The caravan parking is the last of the parking areas before exiting the site having passed the HGV park and the main car park. When we got to 'Caravan Parking Only' of the approximately 8 spaces two had caravans, one was empty (which we quickly grabbed) and the others were full of transit type vans and solo cars - except for the fully loaded 2 tier full size car transporter, far longer than the parking bays !! How he got in there is anyone's guess as there are bollards to stop HGVs from getting to the area.

On the return trip I just went straight into the half empty HGV parking.