Britain's best and worst motorway services named - have you visited them?

Britain's best and worst motorway services named - have you visited them?

The winner came top of 123 service stations, and was scored on toilets, food and drink, accessibility, EV charging and facilities for HGV drivers
The winning services come ‘highly recommended’ by the majority of visitors
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The best motorway services in the country has been crowned with a near-perfect score for customer satisfaction.

Welcome Break Rotherham on the M1 in south Yorkshire, which opened in January 2025 and is one of the newest motorway services in the UK, took the highest score in the poll by Transport Focus.

It scored a satisfaction rating of 99% in a survey of 37,000 motorists.

More than eight in 10 visitors said they would recommend the services.

The charity's motorway services user survey covered 123 sites and asked people about toilets, accessibility, food and drink, facilities for HGV and lorry drivers and electric vehicle (EV) charging.

Seven other services also achieved a 99% satisfaction rate, among them Moto Rugby, Moto Sawtry and Welcome Break Sam Park.

At the other end of the table, Watford Gap Northbound ranked last for overall satisfaction.

The Northamptonshire services, which sit on the M1 and are operated by Roadchef, have seen their satisfaction score fall 9% since 2023.

Nearly one in four drivers (24%) have not had an eye test in the past two years, a new survey suggests (Rui Vieira/PA)
The best - and worse - service stations in the country have been announced after a survey of 37,000 motorists

Watford Gap's southbound services also featured in the bottom five.

The site is the joint oldest motorway services in the country, having opened in November 1959.

Roadchef operates four of the five services with the lowest overall satisfaction.

The company has announced more than £300 million of investment across its business over the next five years.

Across all of Roadchef's sites, the average score was 93%, which is 3% lower than the joint-top operators Moto and Extra.

Louise Collins, director at Transport Focus, said: "Motorway services have improved significantly over the years, and road users are seeing the benefit.

“There is still more to do, including on car parking, wayfinding and facilities for HGV drivers, and our survey will help us track progress in these areas in the years ahead.”

Three-quarters of disabled visitors said the services catered well for their impairment.

That figure is up 13% since 2022, but it remains one of the lowest scores for a category in the survey.

Ms Collins said: "We've also seen real progress on accessibility.

“It shows what can be achieved when the industry recognises an issue and works together to tackle it.”

HGV drivers were less satisfied with facilities than the general public, reporting a 90% satisfaction rate.

Only 54% viewed HGV parking availability positively.

Some 51% said the number of showers was sufficient, and 42% were happy with the value of the parking package.

Value for money was another lower-rated metric, with no services scoring higher than 74% for the value of their food and drink.

Overall satisfaction with the value of EV charging was 58% as services begin to contend with a changing fleet of road users.

Original source Britain's best and worst motorway services named - have you visited them?

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