The rest areas, which were intended to tackle the problem of driver fatigue, have become one of the latest victims of the Government’s austerity programme.
Proposals for the rest areas were one of the key provisions or the 2006 Road Safety Act, along with plans for so-called alcolocks - devices which prevented drivers starting the car if they had been drinking.
Roadside Picnic spots are commonplace on the continent and parts of the United States, where they are seen as offering drivers some respite during a long journey.
However on the continent funding for the rest areas is provided by road tolls, which have been ruled out by the Government.
The decision not to fund rest areas worried Robert Gifford, Executive Director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety.
“Fatigue is a very significant factor in crashes at night on the motorway network. If rest areas have proven too expensive, the government needs to renew its advertising campaign to get the message through to drivers about the nned to take a break before you fall asleep at the wheel.”
“Motorway service areas help to keep drivers and passengers safe by providing a place to rest and refuel so I want to make sure they provide the best possible service," said Mike Penning, the roads minister.
“That is why I am investigating how we can reduce regulation, increase competition and improve the quality of service areas. However, we have limited resources available and we are focusing our efforts on the areas that provide the best value for money and make the most difference to motorists.”
Not really surprised anymore! 
Are you Malc? Same ■■■■ different decade! 
They lost my vote now! Promises broken and all that Mr Cameron! And I never forget and I never miss an election! 
Austerity measures my arse. It`s just another name for saving money for new ministerial cars and huge pay rises.
this is just more ■■■■■■■■,check how the services got the space in the first instantance,the paid for the services not the parking that area is public land that they have just decided to put a few lines on and called it a service area its our land and i do not understand why a few corporate ■■■■■■■■ want us to keep paying for somthing that is ours as of right.
bojo69
bojo69:
this is just more [zb],check how the services got the space in the first instantance,the paid for the services not the parking that area is public land that they have just decided to put a few lines on and called it a service area its our land and i do not understand why a few corporate [zb] want us to keep paying for somthing that is ours as of right.bojo69
The parking charges on motorways are something new, or I have a bad memory. I don’t recall paying for parking 25 years ago, unless it was in a council lorry park like Newark or Stamford. It was certainly nothing like the prices of today. If you remember that Watford Gap and Hilton Park both had separate dining areas for lorry drivers, they welcomed you in.
My first recollection of greed was at Manchester Truckstop where if you cleaned out it was free parking, then they introduced a parking charge for all, so we voted with our feet and started cleaning out in Tankfreight or Bartank. It was closer to Eccles anyway 
Plenty of hardshoulder to use, people seem to find it ok to have 9 hours off parked on the hardshoulder after being stuck in jam for ages so why not park there at other times?
That safety guy says ‘the services are a place to rest and refuel’, take it he’s not seen the prices in there then?
Wheel Nut:
The parking charges on motorways are something new, or I have a bad memory. I don’t recall paying for parking 25 years ago, unless it was in a council lorry park like Newark or Stamford. It was certainly nothing like the prices of today. If you remember that Watford Gap and Hilton Park both had separate dining areas for lorry drivers, they welcomed you in.My first recollection of greed was at Manchester Truckstop where if you cleaned out it was free parking, then they introduced a parking charge for all, so we voted with our feet and started cleaning out in Tankfreight or Bartank. It was closer to Eccles anyway
Might be your memory !!! I couldn’t be certain of the timing of the introduction, but certainley there has been parking charges for around the last 18-20 years. On some of the services if you look behind the undergrowth/fences/hedges…(yeah i know you have better things to do !!) you can still today see signs, albeit undated, charging £2.50 per night etc…and to contact the services manager for a ticket. It was just never enforced. The enforcement has commenced in the last ten years or so ,increasing year on year. And also charges have gone up to reflect this !!!
whats lyme truckstop like i never slept there but i ate there once n it was less than great 
I recently wrote to my MP about motorway parking -
Section copied from his reply below:
There are some very important points of principle here.
One of the principles of Magna Carta was that only the Crown could impose fines upon people - one of the issues that the Barons at Runnymede had with King John was that they didn’t want his Sheriff of Nottingham type figures going around the country imposing penalties at whim.
And so the position is today, that only Her Majesty’s Courts can impose fines on individuals.
What Parliament has allowed local authorities in certain instances to do is to impose “penalties” for very specific matters but those powers are restricted, as far as I am aware, to local authorities and I am not aware either of local authorities policing motorway service areas or motorway service area businesses being granted powers to impose penalties.
So if my understanding is correct, if you remain at a motorway service area longer than that period of time for which you have been granted permission, you become in law “a trespasser” and are liable for civil damages but those damages are limited to the actual damage caused to the company but it doesn’t entitle them to impose or extract a “penalty” upon you and unless they have some clear statutory authority to impose a penalty, I would simply rip up the correspondence.
Mike-C:
Wheel Nut:
The parking charges on motorways are something new, or I have a bad memory. I don’t recall paying for parking 25 years ago, unless it was in a council lorry park like Newark or Stamford. It was certainly nothing like the prices of today. If you remember that Watford Gap and Hilton Park both had separate dining areas for lorry drivers, they welcomed you in.My first recollection of greed was at Manchester Truckstop where if you cleaned out it was free parking, then they introduced a parking charge for all, so we voted with our feet and started cleaning out in Tankfreight or Bartank. It was closer to Eccles anyway
Might be your memory !!! I couldn’t be certain of the timing of the introduction, but certainley there has been parking charges for around the last 18-20 years. On some of the services if you look behind the undergrowth/fences/hedges…(yeah i know you have better things to do !!) you can still today see signs, albeit undated, charging £2.50 per night etc…and to contact the services manager for a ticket. It was just never enforced. The enforcement has commenced in the last ten years or so ,increasing year on year. And also charges have gone up to reflect this !!!
Technology improving our lives, in the form of ANPR
I prefer the German method. Pay some bloke in a little security hut 10 euros for parking, and the money you pay for the parking gets you an equivalent voucher towards a DECENT meal and sometimes a free shower too.
Wheel Nut:
bojo69:
this is just more [zb],check how the services got the space in the first instantance,the paid for the services not the parking that area is public land that they have just decided to put a few lines on and called it a service area its our land and i do not understand why a few corporate [zb] want us to keep paying for somthing that is ours as of right.bojo69
The parking charges on motorways are something new, or I have a bad memory. I don’t recall paying for parking 25 years ago, unless it was in a council lorry park like Newark or Stamford. It was certainly nothing like the prices of today. If you remember that Watford Gap and Hilton Park both had separate dining areas for lorry drivers, they welcomed you in.
My first recollection of greed was at Manchester Truckstop where if you cleaned out it was free parking, then they introduced a parking charge for all, so we voted with our feet and started cleaning out in Tankfreight or Bartank. It was closer to Eccles anyway
Well that’s it. If everyone did that, got their [zb] together and arranged alternative parking then these places wouldn’t stay in business very long. I’m certainly no MSA apologist, but let’s face it, they’re in business to make money and if you can still fill your truck park with 100 trucks per night at £25 a pop, up from the £20 you were charging before then you’d be stupid not to. They know they’ve got a niche market covered and they’re exploiting it to the max by providing the minimum they have to and charging the max they can get away with. The only stupid people are the drivers and hauliers that continue to lap it up and keep using them.
<awaits whining about there being “nowhere else” to park >
I can count on one hand how many times I’ve parked in those rubbish over priced crap shacks. Just not worth it. Yeah you get a food voucher but what for? To use on that hideous dry crap served up by a member of staff that looks like they hate every second of their lives.
So as you can see I’m certainly not a fan!
Some larger hauliers have accounts with the likes of moto don’t they??
Dover t/stop is a prime example of this,the amount of N/D trucks in there you would think its their depot 
switchlogic:
I can count on one hand how many times I’ve parked in those rubbish over priced crap shacks. Just not worth it. Yeah you get a food voucher but what for? To use on that hideous dry crap served up by a member of staff that looks like they hate every second of their lives.So as you can see I’m certainly not a fan!
Some are actually quite good these days, Luke. We have to park in them 
but it’s all paid for by the company (including meal), as it should be if that is the requirement. Occasionally I look at the food and think “I’d be miffed if I’d paid for this” but mostly I’m happy enough. Occasionally I’m pleasantly surprised, sometimes very impressed