Motorway services are charging up to twice as much for meals as supermarkets, reports a survey commissioned by traffic information website www.keepmoving.co.uk.
Rip-off motorway meals won’t come as a surprise to Britain’s hard-pressed motorists, but the survey has also revealed a strong regional pricing bias, with drivers in the south and west paying most.
Six of the top ten most expensive services are on the M4 - five of these are run by Moto - with Reading topping the list.
Buying sandwiches, crisps, chocolate and bottled water for four costs £26.68 there – against a typical price of £12.24 for the same items at a supermarket.
The only motorway outlet that comes in for anything approaching praise is M&S’s growing chain of motorway ‘Simply Food’ outlets, which charge the same across the country and also undercut other food vendors on the same site.
The survey was commissioned by www.keepmoving.co.uk. The site offers a free service to help users find supermarkets within a one-minute drive of motorway and ‘A’ road junctions.
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Re: Britain’s priciest motorway services
I remember some great service in France on the way down to the Dordogne. They were completely modern, and the food was lovely. There are only a handful of motorway services in the UK that are modern or nice, notably the Oxford one (which I've mentioned) and the ones on the M6 Toll Road.
Re: Britain’s priciest motorway services
Couldn't agree more - Britain lags so far behind the rest of Europe on matters like this that it is a wake up call to us all to desert this sinking ship before it finally becomes uninhabitable. Motorway services are symptomatic of "rip -off-who-gives-a-toss Britain" - inedible food, extortionate prices and desperately poor customer service. I avoid them like the plague. Good source of material for a Little Britain sketch though......sadly.
Re: Britain’s priciest motorway services
Last time I ate any food at services I almost died!!. Bone dry chicken that I was charged 20 pounds for and then choked on it!!
Why can't Britian learn from europe on this?- I was recently in Holland and stopped at the services and was amazed at the quality, freshness and cost of the food.