Motorway Services getting to be like ghost towns at night.

HardWorker2010_2

Are the Motorway service station operators stupid or cunning?

It has become apparent to my drivers that fewer and fewer people are taking a nap in the carparks at night. I assume this is because many drivers are scared off by the aggressive signage.

Obviously these drivers are stopping elsewhere for a nap. If they're not stopping at the services they're not spending any money there.

Makes me suspect the companies think they can make more from PPC kickbacks than they can from offering a genuine good quality service.

Anyone noticed the same?

Kite2010

The only time I (or anybody I know) ever stops in a motorway services is to use the toilet and buy a newspaper/magazine.

Get rid of automatic PPC invoices and bring back the man whom walks around during the day to check if someone has left their car there and gone off somewhere else they have paid the £5 or so (and leave a note asking them to pay when they get back). A little personal touch is needed with unlimited free parking at night.

HardWorker2010_2

Free unlimited overnight parking? That I'd love to see but don't think its very likley.

To be honest, if one of my drivers feels the need to stop and sleep for their safety and that of other road users then I applaud their common sense. I'd even be happy to pay a token fee for the use of an empty carpark. But as long as the Service Station operators continue with their current way of operating, all PPC toilet paper will be ignored.

funkycoldribena

Couldnt care less if they all went down the pan,would be purely their own fault-ppcs,dear fuel,dear food.Let greed be their downfall-I couldnt care less.

taffy056

Government advice is to take a break from driving if you are tired, for every 2 hours of driving at least a 15 minute break, if you are feeling sleepy to stop in a safe place. This supersedes pathetic terms in a services, its about time that legislation was put into place to stop these companies engendering people's lives by making motorists think twice before stopping!

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_069855
http://www.highways.gov.uk/knowledge/14986.aspx

mikey72

funkycoldribena wrote: »

Couldnt care less if they all went down the pan,would be purely their own fault-ppcs,dear fuel,dear food.Let greed be their downfall-I couldnt care less.

Close them all down. http://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Pricing

Kite2010

HardWorker2010 wrote: »

Free unlimited overnight parking? That I'd love to see but don't think its very likley.

To be honest, if one of my drivers feels the need to stop and sleep for their safety and that of other road users then I applaud their common sense. I'd even be happy to pay a token fee for the use of an empty carpark. But as long as the Service Station operators continue with their current way of operating, all PPC toilet paper will be ignored.

The problem is that most of the Service Stations has got rid of the old pay & display by coins machines and replaced it with a next-to-useless automatic pay-by-phone method on a 0845 number.

It gets fun when there is another way out of the services other than back onto the motorway which isn't covered by the scammers cameras, que tickets for overstaying for a few days!

taffy056

As I have said previously, what happens if you have no debit/credit cards ? What happens if you have no mobile phones ? It's a disgrace that consecutive governments allow this to happen

Kite2010

And even if you did have a mobile phone, calling a 0845 number can be expensive if your on the wrong network.

Charge a nominal amount during the day but have unlimited free parking between 6pm and 9am, when was the last time you saw a motorway services car-park filled up?

Coupon-mad

taffy056 wrote: »

As I have said previously, what happens if you have no debit/credit cards ? What happens if you have no mobile phones ? It's a disgrace that consecutive governments allow this to happen

Yep, tourists may not have cards or phones that can be readily used - and at least the old machines were easy for everyone to use and understand.

Kite2010

And the machines could cope if you have an accent.