I generally take my own food. The only thing’s I’ll buy from MSA’s are magazines and drinks if I really really need one. If I haven’t got my own food I’m lucky enough to deliver to Wetherspoons so get a meal at one of the pubs and have my break there and abuse the free wi-fi. MSA managers should be looking at what pubs like Wetherspoons are offering and for how much and then reconsidering their offerings and prices. Whilst we’re talking about MSAs it would be nice if they could spend some of the £20 a night parking money on Tarmac.
Last time i used a MSA restaurant it cost me £10 for less (quality & quantity) than what you can get for £5 at the nearest Truckers Cafe.
I wont use MSA for nights out, id rather find a layby or some other truckstop. MSA’s cant justify charging the prices they do for what they actually provide.
As for drivers taking a zb in the lorry parking area, they probably would go into the toilets if the MSA’s themselves werent taking the zb with their extortionate prices. Which probably makes a lot of drivers not be bothered to walk into the service area.
Also MSA’s seem to pop us truckers right out the way , behind everyone else. Then want £20 off us for the pleasure of walking over a poorly lit, pothole ridden area to get to the other highly priced amenities that are on offer. Stop Caravans using the Lorry park, Im sure if we used teh caravan area we would get a ticket / clamped. but they get nothing at all in the way of consequences (other than being blocked in by us lot 
)
I habitually match the cynical & often stinking exploitation evidenced by the MSA’s upon the motoring society - especially lorryists, by never buying a bean or a dribble of drink from them - unless absolutely needing it to stay safe at the wheel.
I’ll happily read the magazines and finger the papers on sale too …in reciprocal disgust at the ‘need’ to take a 45 when inconvenient to me when using the road system upon which rip-off rent/rates, etc line the chancellor’s pocket.
However, I’m always extra-polite to the cleaners & till urchins yet take great delight at sneering at any ‘suits’ when I see them prowling ‘their’ patch - especially if I see a gaggle of them…
I will make a healthy sandwich or 3, those that are sold in most MSA’s are not only extortionate but also most contain mayo. I was brought up not to pay for car parks when I could park on’t street, therefore paying £3+ is out of the question somtimes on a rare occasion I will get a Burger King but hate McD’s. I walked off last week from BK’s though £7 for what normally costs £5 so I thought this was excessive therefore waited till I got home then had a fresh Gastronomic delight… 
Mad dan:
‘…I …hate McD’s …got home then had a fresh Gastronomic delight…’
Too right: However, a sentiment within this article illustrates how it is perhaps fashionable to be ambivalent in accepting over-frequent gorging on junk as being harmless:
dailymail.co.uk/health/artic … risis.html
To those in our situation, it might not be harmless to not give a ■■■■ …and maybe all mass produced, processed & pre-prepaired ‘muck-off-a-truck’ MSA-type grub should be questioned for its integrity?
I had a Burger King thing this week at Swansea West services but that was only because I had the fuel vouchers. They get diddly-squat out of me.
on the rare occasion that i actually bother to stop at MSA’s, it is usually to abuse the porcelain, not to have my stomach abused by the overpriced sorry excuse they have for food
Only get food from an MSA if Ive got fuel vouchers, the only thing I will buy from them is magazines, and newspapers as they are the same price, I think its crap how you have to pay to use the cashpoints too.
When i was on days i brought my own food and drink.If i didnt have any i would stop at a butty van or cafe,MSAs are a rip off so i never used them
Okey-didley-dokley and Deepinvet have it spot on.
I never buy the sweaty crap they pass off as food at the MSA’s,but nearly always use M&S if I pass one,as like all of M&S’s grub wherever you are,it’s always top notch,and the staff are usually quite friendly.
Where else can you get a plain cheese and onion for £1.39,and a bottle of water with lemon for 90p?
Even their salmon and cucumber is only £1.85.(With the crusts on of course. )
The owners of MSA’s should hang their heads in shame at the crap they sell,but at least ■■■■ Turpin wore a mask.
But it’s supply and demand as they know that if your desperate for something to eat and drink,you’re going to pay it.
Ken.
I prepare my own, it doesn’t take long to rustle up myself a bacon sandwich or some beans on toast for lunch. Doesn’t cost anywhere near what MSA’s have the audacity to charge and tastes a lot better aswell.
Im a M&S user myself , If I dont have a pack up I usually stop at M&S and buy the cheapest sandwich , 
I want to buy from the shop but I have this strange aversion to getting ripped off !!!
I hate the thought of them having one over on me.
M&S although expensive on some things do have cheaper range. I bought a litre bottle of their water , it was less than 50 p , but their 50ml bottle with sports cap 90p ? compare to the shop you will pay nearly £1.50 someplaces.I am out most days 12 -13 hours and it all add up at the wnd of the week
The shops are very very expensive but its a good old fashioned monoploly and its never going to change while people keep using them.
I never buy food from MSA’s apart from the occasional bag of crisps from the shop and a maybe a paper or mag
Almost everything I eat I cook myself in the cab, unless I decide to go for a pint and a meal at a wetherspoons if theres one close to where I’m having my night out, or on a friday when I have my weekly fried brekky, rather than the usual bowl of cornflakes
ROG:
Whether in truck or car, I never buy from the services unless there is no other option.I can usually find a large superstore close to a motoway and a nice chat with their security usually gets a truck ■■■■■■■■■■■■ for a short time
Or some fast food outlet.
Prices on MSA are from the moon and food is crap.
rarely stop at msas for food if i do then its Bk or whatevers there,
if im parked over night which is a very rare thing right now i use the vouchers, the meal i had at oxford services wasnt bad but id rather go to a truckstop than an msa.
i would like to know how the justify the prices on msa,s they say the rent is high then would that be set by the council who in turn do not want us to park in there towns/industrial areas or is that because a good truck cost 100k they think we are all made of money it is the same with some aftermarket toys to help us when we are out ie tv■■? truck stop price£399.99for a 12volt tv/dvd combo yet in asda you can buy a 15 inch tv/dvd combi that runs of 12volt and its lcd ■■?cost £125 are we being ripped of oh yes from every corner but hey thats my opinion for what its worth 
I am not a lover of MSA’s for any of the services they overcharge us for, and would only park on one if there was no other choice, however, when I do have to park there I will try to eat before I arrive, and if I can’t I would go for the fast food KFC or Burger king food rather than the restaurant.
I was always of the impression a restaurant was supposed to serve high quality food against a cafe serving basic food, so how they can call them restaurants I will never understand, as the standard of food is down below most road side caravans and certainly worse than any cafe I have used.
There is no excuse for the low standards, service areas over the rest of Europe seem to manage to provide a tasty meal, and generally for a lower price
I never buy ANYTHING from MSA’s, over priced and never found them to be truck driver friendly,
if we have a load on, and are away from the depots, we have too stop at msa’s.
i would only ever use a fast food joint at an msa, and thats if i’m being lazy, and not cooking in the cab.
think 99% of the actual restaraunt msa’s are diabolical, the bilge they serve, and at such an extortinate price, even premier league footballers would struggle.
i’m not tight, and would happily pay a reasonable price, if their food was good, and plentiful, but its neither. surprised they’ve never been looked at by the monopolies commission.
98p for a can of diet coke, and yet at the bottom of the same fridge, a 6 pack, for £3.99
like most i guess, i go shopping at tescos at the weekend, and get a weeks supply of gear for the wagon, too see me through.
if needs be, i’ll use the marks and sparks shops, because, its value for money, in my opinion.
I try to buy from supermarkets where i park up to save money for example i can make a lunchbox full of sandwich’s for a couple of pounds and thats proper meat/seafood not wafer thin ham like the service’s and for 3.99 now in the MSA’s you get a lightly filled tuna sandwich. I refuse to pay their price’s and i think it should be regulated. Why the government recently said they wasn’t going to step in on this blatant rip off just shows us truck drivers have a long way to go before we get like france for example. Ginsters sandwich’s were replaced by moto to their own fresh sandwich’s made in the restraunt area…Ginsters where cheaper than moto’s own by the way. It seems anything that the can rip us of for they do it.
Daniel Lambert