SURVEY SHOWS UK SERVICE AREAS LAG BEHIND EUROPE
01 July 2004 - AA

Britain''s motorway service areas (MSAs) are the worst in Europe, according to a new survey supported by the AA Motoring Trust, which puts some of the blame on outdated government regulations.

Sandbach, on the M6 in Cheshire, received the lowest rating in the test; poorer even than when it was tested in 2001. The best-rated MSA is the Vogtland South service area in Germany while the UK''s best MSAs are the M4 Cardiff West Moto and the M40 Oxford Welcome Break, both of which were rated ''acceptable''.
Sandbach: rated Europe''s worst in survey
The tests, funded by the EuroTest consortium of motoring organisations of which the AA Trust is a leading member, inspected motorway service areas in ten European countries.

Cutting Costs
Motorway service area operators must fund – through high till and pump prices – free facilities such as large parking areas for lorries, free toilets, and services 24–hours a day. The AA Trust believes the only way to reduce prices at UK MSAs is to relax some of the regulations the operators have to comply with, which date from the 1950s.

Of the 62 MSAs tested, eight were in Britain with none of these rated better than acceptable. Sandbach was the only service area in Europe to be rated ''very poor'', while Woolley Edge, on the M1 near Wakefield, received a ''poor'' rating. This MSA has been tested in all three of the EuroTest surveys and has shown no measurable improvement.

Regulatory Expenses
There are restrictions on the size of the sales area and products sold at MSAs must relate only to travelling. This means that while snacks and drinks can be sold to take away, a wider range of goods, such as groceries, are banned.

Bert Morris, Deputy Director of the AA Trust, says: ''While there is no excuse for failing to clean toilets, or serving poor food in messy restaurants, it is clear that operators have to bear some high regulatory costs and don''t have the freedom to sell a wide range of goods which might allow them to attract more paying custom and so drop prices.''

In their report the inspectors said: ''The UK had the highest percentage of bad results. You could stop for petrol and perhaps buy some provisions but we wouldn''t recommend taking a break there.''

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