the nodding donkey:
Never again. What a [zb] stinking [zb] arse wiping ■■■■ stained pile of [zb] catsick. £28 [zb] quid. NO [zb] food voucher. 1000’s of [zb] civies getting in your way. Staff who would struggle in a “what’s your name?” competition…[zb] it. I’m buying a crate of beer and go and find some friendly Euro drivers to join.
What made you think it would be anything other than ? 
The biggest shame is that it’s one of the better ones 
OVLOV JAY:
The biggest shame is that it’s one of the better ones
Are not “Extra” places all the same though?
I reckon Cobham looks the same as Beaconsfield almost exactly, with Baldock being just a mirror image of the other two - put it that way.
You walk in the front door, there is a pulled pork stall in front of you, a buffet behind that, a chippy/spud-u-dont-like in the left corner, McD’s and KFC on the far side, and some stupid amusement arcade that you cannot swing a cat in on your right. The other shops seem to come and go, so I’ll reserve judgement on them. Even when KFC was shut down for several weeks for renovation - they bloody well mirrored the same thing at Beaconsfield. You can’t make this ■■■■■■■■ up!
I ended up having to use Warwock services to get my desired KFC on that day…
toby1234abc:
The MSA is now not fit for purpose , and is too small to cope with increasing traffic and parking volumes, whoever owns the land next to it , could make a fortune selling it to make it bigger, or did the local bird watchers and dog walking Nimbies object to that plan ?In my opinion, they should have built two MSA`S, ONE on each side .Job done .
Or the other option bulldoze the zb place and turn it back to the green belt where it belongs.Then carry out those other suggestions of turning Clacket Lane and a new build at Iver along the lines of a US type interstate truck stop.IE why the bleedin fixation on Cobham as though it’s the only place on the M25 or even in the UK where every driver suddenly runs out of time and absolutely has to stop.When it’s just a few pointless miles up the road from Clacket Lane.
As for ‘Nimbies’ no self respecting nimby would even think of wanting to live in a place in which London is trying to turn the place into more of the same on one side and drivers thinking that because they like driving let’s turn the place into one great big motorway and truck park on the other.Not to mention two regional airports also blighting the area.While much of the Norf remains an under developed wilderness. 
I may be wrong, but I thought that Rothersthorpe services was ‘Lorries only’ when it first opened, so why not make Cobham Lorries only, possibly with just fuel and toilets at the pumps for cars?
Another thing there’s more MSA’s on a 40 mile stretch of the M1 or M6 than the whole of the M25
Cobham was a welcome site…when prior to that it was clacket lane and nothing else for 40 miles, the problem with cobham as always, is the british way of not looking to the future, let alone the present day, wher parking is becoming a nightmare unless you want to park up at 3pm…but somewhere along the way, someone is not going to find a spot to park without difficulty…even a 45 is difficult…let alone a full nightly rest. Cobham should have been twice its size, and enlarge clacket at the same time…our roads are twice what they used to be with the EE countries having joined the club, our so called transport minister couldnt see the problems ahead…as long as i can remember, the continent has always had massive parking areas, with good facilities, in almost every country in europe, the uk has and always will lag behind. As for MSA`s in general, the price doesnt bother me…i dont pay, never have and never will…but its easier this time around for i am running on foreign plates…EE ones at that, and our office bins are overflowing with requests to pay… 
Winseer:
OVLOV JAY:
The biggest shame is that it’s one of the better onesAre not “Extra” places all the same though?
I reckon Cobham looks the same as Beaconsfield almost exactly, with Baldock being just a mirror image of the other two - put it that way.
You walk in the front door, there is a pulled pork stall in front of you, a buffet behind that, a chippy/spud-u-dont-like in the left corner, McD’s and KFC on the far side, and some stupid amusement arcade that you cannot swing a cat in on your right. The other shops seem to come and go, so I’ll reserve judgement on them. Even when KFC was shut down for several weeks for renovation - they bloody well mirrored the same thing at Beaconsfield. You can’t make this ■■■■■■■■ up!
I ended up having to use Warwock services to get my desired KFC on that day…
Yeah all the extras are the same. Personally, I think they’re the best msa operator around. That’s why I said it was one of the better ones
blue estate:
Another thing there’s more MSA’s on a 40 mile stretch of the M1 or M6 than the whole of the M25
The difference is no one is going to use the whole of the M25 to get anywhere only around 50% of it.
While there’s also a big difference between vulnerable important remaining areas designated as green belt around London v the rest of the country that often having the luxury of the surplus areas of open land space in the West and the Midlands and the North of the country.On that note no one should expect those vulnerable areas in the south east to be turned into truck parking areas just as we don’t want them turned over to yet more housing and infrastructure.
Especially in this case being that there’s loads of low grade open land a few miles up the road nearer to Heathrow.Let me guess that’s off limits because it’s already earmarked for more South East airport expansion and all that goes with it.
While contrary to yet more infrastructure development what we do need here in the south east is a massive reduction in all types of development demand and for the rest of the country to take its fair share of it all.That includes an increase in the use of the North Sea ports for the North’s Continental transport links and not expecting it all to go through Kent and Surrey.The same applies regarding airport capacity.Especially when we’ve got enough problems with London wanting to increase its size to the point where it’s suburbs reach Guildford or further.Not to mention already having had to put up with the M25 needlessly going through the place and the motorway class A3 on our doorstep to go with the M3.All that to satisfy what London wants and while drivers have to struggle with the zb standard of the A 34 and A 14 for example to keep the real nimbies in those parts of the country happy.