i stop at msa to have a dump, write on the walls and throw my litter away, i wont buy anything from the rip off scum.
chunkytransport:
i stop at msa to have a dump, write on the walls and throw my litter away, i wont buy anything from the rip off scum.
Good lad. 
Anonymous:
Theyre garbage Rob fair enough, but look at it this way, what if everybody was competing for the free places? youd have to get in there damned quick to park, its bad enough allready, brampton for instance?
If Brampton is free I’ll be in there pronto demanding back all the £8’s back for the years i’ve paid it, cud be enuff to retire on 
I dont see anything ever being done about it, i’m 33 and as far back as i can remember being a passenger in a car with my great aunt and uncle going roadtrips they have always been really expensive, always been dirty.
These reports about MSA come out all the time and they never change.
I suppose they are a bit cleaner than they were.
People always complain about the toilets, but its prob the same people that are trashing them.
I stoped at Wooley Edge i think it was on the M1, or maybe another one was quite close to the M62. Stoped at garage went in for a pee. Had a single toilet, it had nice black tiling, and had flowers in it. It was really clean, i was kinda shocked.
Mentioned it to the guy on the desk, said thats prob the cleanest nicest MSA toilets ive been to. He said well your just lucky next person who goes in no doubt will ■■■■ all over the walls, do a dump and not bother to flash it. He said supposed to check them every half hour, most of the time you go in after half an hour they are a complete mess.
A lot of the mess is to do with people being pigs, ever have the misfortune to visit a McDonalds drive through on a Sat afternoon, fat people in ill fitting tracksuits, can’t be bothered walking to a bin a few feet away and dump all their crap out the window of their car.
Thats prob a huge difference between here and Europe.
Kenny1975:
People always complain about the toilets, but its prob the same people that are trashing them.He said well your just lucky next person who goes in no doubt will ■■■■ all over the walls, do a dump and not bother to flash it. He said supposed to check them every half hour, most of the time you go in after half an hour they are a complete mess.
That sounds so much like pops 2000 and they have a couple of full time cleaners 
, why is it so many people have a fixation with dremmels etc in MSA toilets? So they have to have aluminium fixed to the cubicles,
Do the women’s toilets in the MSA’S have these problems as well, maybe the lady truckers could enlighten us, do they have the same sort of sad grafitti on the walls as well ?
Kenny1975:
A lot of the mess is to do with people being pigs, ever have the misfortune to visit a McDonalds drive through on a Sat afternoon, fat people in ill fitting tracksuits, can’t be bothered walking to a bin a few feet away and dump all their crap out the window of their car.
Now i know you must be talking about Pop 2000, they must need the guiness book of records worlds biggest bins for all the fat/sick/ugly/lazy lookers that come out of MC’DS there.
I don’t know how you lads and ladies sleep there the size of the rats nesting and scurrying about, look in the bushes to your right as you enter and exit the truckpark 
heres my tuppence worth,(for what its worth).
i can honestly not remember the last time i paid to park in services for the following reasons;
1)too expensive to park
2)food disgusting over priced dustbin fodder
3)not safe-loads of thefts occur on a weekly basis
4)funny smells in the lorry park of wee
5)dodgy people knocking you out of bed to sell their wares
6)the lorry park being a bus ride,then a taxi jaunt,and a twenty minute walk,when we are the "mainstay"of their daily basis.
i prefer to park on industrial estates/town centres,where i can choose where i eat,at sensible prices,see the quality of food from a variety of outlets,sightsee/walkabout,even go to the pictures.
msa"s need to be completly overhauled to come even close to what i think they should be offering,in every aspect.
trucking482002:
I can remember reading a leaflet at one of MSA,s about the reason for MSA,s higher fuel prices,this gave a list of about half a dozen “excuses” .
The first of which was “Remote Locations and Inaccessability of Sites”!!!,what easier place to deliver to than MSA. Talk about make the rules up as you go along,also breaking down in an MSA and being told when the firm,s fitter arrived,“you cant repair it here ,you’ll have to pull out onto the hard shoulder”!!
regards derek
Sorry to pick up on Dereks old quote but it is worth mentioning , due to the remote locations bit that when MSA’s actually got going there was no other options. Many town and city centres had nothing open after 6pm, and even before that you would have to go in the centre to get stuff. On the run down to say…London from Liverpool there was nothing open only transport cafes or a services. No maccy dee’s/kentucky/pizza parlour or kebab house. Nowadays you can pull off at Brum, Cov, Rugby, Northampton, Milton keynes and get some grub, you may have to park in a retail park but you can get it !!
5minutesaway.co.uk/
is a good website for alternatives
Mike-C:
Don’t use Google. Just ask me Smile
I am just looking for something more about Soviet Union’s involvement in Ogaden war. Can you tell me when excactly last soviet soldiers and instructors fighting on the Somalian side were withdrawn? And if any of them were then send to Ethiopia to fight on the other side on the conflict?
Many thanks
orys:
Mike-C:
Don’t use Google. Just ask me Smile
I am just looking for something more about Soviet Union’s involvement in Ogaden war. Can you tell me when excactly last soviet soldiers and instructors fighting on the Somalian side were withdrawn? And if any of them were then send to Ethiopia to fight on the other side on the conflict?
Many thanks
Moto have cleaning indicators on the bogs, you know the ones, green numbers countdown to the next clean-up/inspection.
After the time expires the numbers go Red showing the amount of time since last inspection.
I saw one that had red numbers showing 200+ minutes (almost 4 hours) then i saw a cleaner point a remote control at the sign to change it back to green numbers.
Then they walked away…No inspection,…No cleaning.
Dont think that coz the numbers are green that the works been done.
toowise:
Moto have cleaning indicators on the bogs,I saw one that had red numbers showing 200+ minutes (almost 4 hours) then i saw a cleaner point a remote control at the sign to change it back to green numbers.
Then they walked away…No inspection,…No cleaning.
Dont think that coz the numbers are green that the works been done.
Must of been down south where all the technology is, up north they just flick eleccy the switch off and on to reset it. (Used to work on my tacho 
)
Got no work in em them southerners , too busy poncing around with technology, to clean the bogs
orys:
Mike-C:
Don’t use Google. Just ask me Smile
I am just looking for something more about Soviet Union’s involvement in Ogaden war. Can you tell me when excactly last soviet soldiers and instructors fighting on the Somalian side were withdrawn? And if any of them were then send to Ethiopia to fight on the other side on the conflict?
Many thanks
I do believe dear chap that the Russians withdrew in support in August and they did indeed join Ethiopia to fight alongside agaisnt the Somalian forces. with the war ending 15th March 1978. Don’t quote me old boy as it was told to me by a drivers sisters brothers mate who drives for Eddie Betz.
Cant say I have much of a problem with MSAs.
Toilets are usually fairly clean, (though there are exceptions obviously.)
Why is ot though some folks insist on writing on the cubical walls sad crap like "■■■■■■ fun on 075…, or have to draw pictures of penises. You’d expect it on school toilets.). Yet the prats who do this sort of thing then whine about the state of the toilets.
O/N parking is usually around £20. Not a massive amount when you consider the size of an HGV. Think about it. You might spend £5 parking your car in a city centre for two hours. So long as my company was paying the fee I’d use them.
The big downsides to them is the cost & quality of the food. Must admit I love the cappochinos, but £2.99 for a large one is steep to say the least. As for the take away sarnies. Well a Ginsters ploughmans. Nice sandwich but £3.50 ■■?
The big fastfood chains are always the same regardless where you are. At least you know what to expect.
Never bothered with the cafe / resturant food.
The massive downside is the amount of criminal activity they attract. Theiving gits, illegal immigrants ripping your curtains to escape, prostitution & at Sandbach Northbound there is always some dodgy bloke in a car selling “cut price” gear. He always expects truckers to buy off him. Why dont the local plod nick him ?
One final point though. I wouldn’t say the toilets at Sandbach were “dirty & run down” maybe they called at a bad time.
wednesday ,last week I had the misfortune to stop on Pease Pottage services, what a dump the toilets were absolutely filthy, they had no hot food left, this was at 6.30pm aswell
I dont normally stop on the MSA’s unless its an absolute emergency and I normally stay on industrial estates as 9 times out of 10 theres a pub, chippy, or supermarket in walking distance
talking of south mimms apart from them having the cheek to expect me to buy their overpriced rubbish, that fat ignorant cow behind the till will not move off that chair, no matter how far she has to reach
The cost of food is a disgrace, even the burger joints are more expensive than a high street location, the quality of the food is appaling, everything in the shops is dearer than anywhere else, that’s a diabolical liberty, exploitation of a captive audience.
The state of the toilets though is a different matter altogether, I don’t think you can blame the MSAs for that, I’ve been in toilets all over the world (I don’t have a fetish, but when you gotta go, you gotta go ) & for the most part, it’s only the ones that are used by British lorry drivers that are in such a state, most euro countries clean on the same timetable as the British ones & they’re not in the state that the British ones are.
How many members of the general public use truckstop showers? Not very many, so who is it smearing excrement on the walls, smashing the sinks etc. You don’t need to be a Rocket Scientist to work it out.
■■■■■■■ animals 
speedyguy:
Do the women’s toilets in the MSA’S have these problems as well, maybe the lady truckers could enlighten us, do they have the same sort of sad grafitti on the walls as well ?
Not usually, no. Which just further backs up newmercman’s theory above. 
Lucy:
speedyguy:
Do the women’s toilets in the MSA’S have these problems as well, maybe the lady truckers could enlighten us, do they have the same sort of sad grafitti on the walls as well ?Not usually, no. Which just further backs up newmercman’s theory above.
Indeed, Lucy is, as usual, correct. But it’s not just the Brit’s who leave things in a mess, everyone has their fair share of animals in human form who drive wagons. I saw a British driver climb out of his cab, and ■■■■ on his wheel, and I’ve seen Czechs and Slovaks do the same. Funnily enough, all men…
My boss complained at me one time for pulling out of a place, and going up the road to an autohof for the weekend, because it cut down my weekend break. If I’m gonna weekend somewhere, it’ll be somewhere I can get to a loo 24 hours a day, and a shower when I want one. And I don’t mind handing 30 or 50 eurocents to the cleaner who DOES keep it clean. I made it 2euro before xmas as a thank you.
I would prefer to pay for a shower that’s clean, and has locks that work, than get a free shower that makes me feel dirties than when I went in thanks awfully.
Yeah, we’ve all had to spend time in places with no facilities at all, where the side of your trailer is all the shelter you get as you have a pee in the pouring rain. Heck, I did that once in -20… But guys, when it’s a 2 minute walk to the toilets, make the effort? For everyone’s sake?
One thing I have noticed in my time across the pond is that drivers generally don’t pee up against the wheel over there, I’m not saying it doesn’t happen but the lorry parks don’t stink of it like some over here do. Hygiene seems to be a lot better too, 99% of people wash their hands after using the facilities too, mind you hardly any of them cover their mouths when they cough or yawn so you win some, you lose some.
They also use litter bins for their rubbish rather than the big bin outside the window, the Europeans are pretty good in this respect too, although some of our friends from the East are complete pigs in every regard (expect reply from Orys )
It could be due to the penalties involved as I was once fined DM100 for peeing against the wheel in a German layby, the toilet block was full of faggots so I didn’t want to go in there, but plod didn’t care, the fine was originally DM50 but my response of ‘you’re [zb]ing joking’ cost me another 50 for swearing at a copper 