M3 Fire

[Ninefingers]

M3 services goes up in flames - one motorist finally fed up with the massively escalated prices these rip-off merchants charge for fuel and refreshments?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-38325180

[mikey4444]

Must have been terrifying for the Staff. But where will anybody have a pee now, on the way to Southampton ?

[fiction-factory]

Hope no-one is injured. I have managed to avoid filling up with fuel at a service station for the last 30 years and have never felt the need to eat there (except when my employer would reimburse the expenses)

[mikey4444]

i use Motorway service areas for peeing in only, and that is about it.

I sometimes get a newspaper but only because they can't hike up the price.

Greedy bar stewards as far as I am concerned !

[Deskdiary]

Packet of Haribo Starmix in Sainsbury's - £1.00.
Packet of Haribo Starmix in the services - £2.50.

Same weight.

This is nothing short of profiteering and exploitation - the argument of increased delivery costs is specious.

I too only ever use the services to use the toilets (although that can take forever as you have to weave in and out of people slowly ambling along with zero awareness of others as though they are strolling along a promenade on a day out - why do people do this?).

[andy-hughes]

mikey - in defence of the service station operators, I believe the levies they have to pay to the government are seriously high, and reflected in the prices they charge.

That coupled with the fact that they are in a 'seller's market' doesn't help.

[bhg481]

They also provide free parking for 2 hours, free toilets and free litter disposal etc. Would you prefer they charged for the parking and toilets?

[mikey4444]

Andy....I wish I believed that !

Its a captive market, as you say, but only for those who want to waste money.

Charging £1:50 for a small bottle of water is nothing but profiteering as far as I am concerned. But they don't catch me out !

[Ninefingers]

It's simple piracy, Highway Robbery is alive and well disguised as service stations.

I queried one of them a few years ago on petrol prices, normal forecourt prices were around £1.10 per litre they were charging £1.30 per litre (Petrol). They said we have to charge for additional delivery charges from the oil company (BP) in this case, on asking why the *** lorries had to pass them to get anywhere else!

Tried going through my MP who waffled and BS'ed about it of course realised he was a director of the service station franchise parent company. Piracy at all levels!!

[bhg481]

It's interesting that the price of fuel on motorway service stations all over Europe (except Slovenia) is much more expensive that at other places.

[jno]

I have managed to avoid filling up with fuel at a service station for the last 30 years

blimey, do you have your own oilfield, ff?

[New Judge]

“They also provide free parking for 2 hours, free toilets and free litter disposal etc. Would you prefer they charged for the parking and toilets?”

So do Lakeside and Bluewater – and you can park there all day.

[youngmafbog]

Got caught short on the M25 couple of months back. Stuck 2 gallons in to just be able to get off where I wanted otherwise i never use the fuel station just the bogs like Mickey.

No one is forced to use them though so not really sure what the complaint is?

[237SJ]

Being that motorists are told to take a break on long journeys, I`m not sure where else they would do that if there were no motorway service stations.

[youngmafbog]

Turn off a Motorway perhaps? Not as ideal but not impossible either. Do we actually have long enough Motorways to warrant keep stopping?

[237SJ]

Sometimes tiredness can`t wait for a motorway turn off. I know people who commute long journeys and they always stop for a 2 hour sleep in motorway service stations.

[vulcan42]

Perhaps if people used the free facilities less and contributed to the essential service station more, then, possibly the prices could come down. I can hear the "yeah, right" comments but if the service station wasn't there then you would have the inconvenience of leaving the motorway to find other facilities and do you not think they, in turn, would raise their prices?

[mikey4444]

YMB ....( 12:45 ).....I have got caught short on the Motorways....thank goodness for the free loos !

Vulcan ....( 13:07 )...some simple planning by drivers would soon make the Motorway Service Stations it up and take notice.

Make sure you stock up on fuel before going on to the Motorway.....

Make sure that you stock up on Haribos, Mars bars, etc, before you start your journey.

Sometimes you can't avoid buying fuel at one of these money-making monsters, especially on a very long trip, but for the majority of journeys, all I have said above is easily done.

Its the people that don't plan ahead, or the ones that have so much money that can afford to waste it, that makes such huge profits for the owners.

[EcclesCake]

Mikey, some people are happy to pay for the convenience and lack of disruption. No need to slate them for their choice. If I had a car with two toddlers screaming in the back I'd much rather pull in to a motorway services than head off into the hinterland in search of better value!

[bhg481]

I've only just seen your post NJ - I suspect that most people going to Lakeside and Bluewater go there with the intention of spending some money there, whereas most people stop on a motorway to use the free facilities.

[mikey4444]

Eccles....yes I understand, but Motorway Service Stations rely on that unpreparedness to make their money.

Gone are the days when these places were a cafe, with toilets, next to a filling station. Most of them are now mini-shopping Malls, but with hiked up prices.

They have turned themselves into a reason to stop and spend, rather than a necessity.