I know already that the services can be a touch overpriced for things. Being that they take advantage of the fact there’s no competition for miles. However went into a WHSmith yesterday to pick up a pair of bollock washers (baby wipes) as forgot to grab them in with the weekly kit and they were £3.50! Considering Asda is 52p. Went to grab a bottle of water and sandwhich which would all together have took me just over £10.
Point is it’s blatant extortion. There should be no excuse for prices to be higher. It’s not as if they are inaccessible for deliveries or any further afield that any other branded store yet they think they can charge 100/200% more for some items than supermarkets and local stores etc.
They always justify it by saying the site is open 24hrdms so bigger overheads etc, and I’m sure if it was ‘a bit’ more expensive people would accept it but it’s the fact that they blatantly RIP your eyes out over price that stops me using them.
Thing is we know most of the country knows motorway services are overpriced. Yet we still use them.
Always see cars fuelling up people buying stuff from.the shops etc.
People should take a flask some sandiwches etc.and avoid buying anything as much as possibble
Stop using the service areas then: use the free parking areas provided by the Government as part of the country’s necessary infrastructure, and funded by Road Fund Licences and road fuel duties.
Franglais:
Stop using the service areas then: use the free parking areas provided by the Government as part of the country’s necessary infrastructure, and funded by Road Fund Licences and road fuel duties.
Why this isn’t already the case is beyond me.
To have to pay in excess of £30 in some cases is incredible. If you were to rely on the services for arguments sake you could potentially be in excess of £40 a night with parking and a meal. Easily almost a 3rd of a lot of guys daily rate. Again some of these are way higher in certain parts of the country, around London for example where it seems to be the going rate perhaps in line with London’s inflation, which is another thing all together.
Only people to see a penny of my money at services are Greggs.
Used to get the odd McD’s coffee but it ain’t a patch on Greggs’ coffee.
More difficult for wagon drivers who might be compelled to park at MSA’s overnight, but then the alienation of wagons and their drivers has been going on throughout the country for decades, at one time most towns had some sort of lorry parking facility, though with the increase in refrigerated vehicles numbers but mainly the mindless littering by legion of hgv licence holders, it’s understandable to a point why we’re unwanted.
It amazes me when i see normal working class people like us out with their families using MSA’s for food and drink, soon kiss goodbye to £40 feeding and watering a family of 4, WTF they don’t come off the motorway and find something not only more reasonably priced, but infinitely better food to boot.
And don’t get me started on MSA fuel prices, with Diesel back up to over £1.50 a piggin litre again.
Car full of people all with smart phones and not one of the sods can use them to find convenient alternatives for food or fuel, fools and their money.
lancpudn:
I only ever pulled into those places for my breaks and to buy a newspaper, remember those! On another retail note Iceland are now selling Easter eggs.
I found that Maccyd charge ordinairy highstreet prices, or maybe a few pence more, unlike the overpriced, as well as overrated KFC and BK. Harry Ramsdens also do a decent Fish and Chips for about Highstreet price. I treat myself to the occasional Fish and Chips.
Shopping wise, Waitrose and M&S both charge regular highstreet prices. They also knock down items on the ‘sell before date’ , towards the evening some decent deals can be had, but its pot luck…
Juddian:
Only people to see a penny of my money at services are Greggs.
Used to get the odd McD’s coffee but it ain’t a patch on Greggs’ coffee.
More difficult for wagon drivers who might be compelled to park at MSA’s overnight, but then the alienation of wagons and their drivers has been going on throughout the country for decades, at one time most towns had some sort of lorry parking facility, though with the increase in refrigerated vehicles numbers but mainly the mindless littering by legion of hgv licence holders, it’s understandable to a point why we’re unwanted.
It amazes me when i see normal working class people like us out with their families using MSA’s for food and drink, soon kiss goodbye to £40 feeding and watering a family of 4, WTF they don’t come off the motorway and find something not only more reasonably priced, but infinitely better food to boot.
And don’t get me started on MSA fuel prices, with Diesel back up to over £1.50 a piggin litre again.
Car full of people all with smart phones and not one of the sods can use them to find convenient alternatives for food or fuel, fools and their money.
Same here. Its greggs or McDonald’s at the services, as I think they are the only ones reasonably priced so those are the only ones that see my money except in very rare cases. Oh, and those sweets on the counter for £1 at whsmith.
Came over a bit faint the other day when I realised I might have no other option than to buy a Costa from wh Smith. Luckily the day was saved by euro garages who had some spar instant coffee [emoji106]
I’ve seen families of 5-6 at burger King at the services which eye-watering bills, yet parents don’t seem to bat an eyelid. Wouldn’t mind it was decent grub. Better off allowing more time and getting a pub meal!
Download the Moto Deals app to your phone, there’s daily deals for such as Costa or Burgerking etc. I stopped at Leigh Delamere for a break yesterday and noticed on the app that a chicken royale meal deal was £3.99 so went to get one, the guy in front of me ordered exactly the same and paid around 8 quid, he wasn’t impressed when I paid £3.99 for the same thing.
On a trip back from Scotland with my dad , sister and brother in law . My sister insisted on stopping at a services for coffee and pastries, cost me just under £30!
Later in the day we stopped at one of my regular truck cafes and had bacon buttìes and hot drinks , total cost £11 -80 .
Dad and brother in law commented on how nice it was to have a proper cup of tea and a sandwich.
I cannot understand why people will pay huge amounts of money for fancy named cups of muddy milky water .
MSAs are only used by me for bog, shower,.and a Gregg’s coffee, and bacon roll on a meal deal some mornings.
Would not dream of parking or eating, or buying their tat from their overpriced shops.
Their sole remit is to rip you off, especially if you drive a truck…I mean 30 ■■■■ quid to park ffs, with a voucher for ■■■■ Burger King…no thanks, snap or not.
robroy:
MSAs are only used by me for bog, shower,.and a Gregg’s coffee, and bacon roll on a meal deal some mornings.
Would not dream of parking or eating, or buying their tat from their overpriced shops.
Their sole remit is to rip you off, especially if you drive a truck…I mean 30 [zb] quid to park ffs, with a voucher for [zb] Burger King…no thanks, snap or not.
Not had Gregg’s breakfast for some time - tend to be on daytime menu by the time I’m buying something. How much is breakfast deal now? Reason is, I noticed J38 have a £3.50 bacon/sausage sandwich & brew in the forecourt shop. The sandwich’s are in a keep-warm thing, so not sure how they fare later in the day, but I think I may give one a try next time I’m in there as I’ve found the restaurant food to be good standard.
robroy:
MSAs are only used by me for bog, shower,.and a Gregg’s coffee, and bacon roll on a meal deal some mornings.
Would not dream of parking or eating, or buying their tat from their overpriced shops.
Their sole remit is to rip you off, especially if you drive a truck…I mean 30 [zb] quid to park ffs, with a voucher for [zb] Burger King…no thanks, snap or not.
Not had Gregg’s breakfast for some time - tend to be on daytime menu by the time I’m buying something. How much is breakfast deal now? Reason is, I noticed J38 have a £3.50 bacon/sausage sandwich & brew in the forecourt shop. The sandwich’s are in a keep-warm thing, so not sure how they fare later in the day, but I think I may give one a try next time I’m in there as I’ve found the restaurant food to be good standard.
Bacon roll and large latte 3 quid at Gregg’s, obviously always fresh rolls which makes all the difference.
When you think that a large Costa latte is also 3 quid, it aint a bad deal.
the maoster:
Download the Moto Deals app to your phone, there’s daily deals for such as Costa or Burgerking etc. I stopped at Leigh Delamere for a break yesterday and noticed on the app that a chicken royale meal deal was £3.99 so went to get one, the guy in front of me ordered exactly the same and paid around 8 quid, he wasn’t impressed when I paid £3.99 for the same thing.
Yeah, I always use the 20% in M&S with that every Tuesday I think - you can get 10% off anytime if you have an AA membership card with you which hardly anyone seems to know about or use as I reckon a good percentage of people must have one but like you with the app I’ve never seen anyone else use it. Although the average punter is probably a good deal less familiar with MSAs than most people on here.
Bacon roll and large latte 3 quid at Gregg’s, obviously always fresh rolls which makes all the difference.
When you think that a large Costa latte is also 3 quid, it aint a bad deal.
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mabey their till in knakkered and ■■■■ only the £3 button that works?
they do good hot pies,but if your ever wanting a debate,try asking them for a couple of cold pies to take away and see what they say.
You think MSAs are expensive for routine stuff? I went to our local Cineworld cinema today (first time for a few years - I’m not a great watcher of films). Bottles of water were about £2.50! Luckily I don’t go with the modern idea that you can’t watch a film (or even do the shopping etc) without a drink/snack so didn’t buy one.
^^^^ I agree about cinema prices, I went to my local Odeon and in the foyer picked up two bottles of Pepsi and two tubs of pick n mix. I tried paying with a £50 note, they wouldn’t accept it so I ended up paying with two £20 notes and a £10 note!
On another retail note Iceland are now selling Easter eggs. 
