From The Independent
Motorway service stations could soon be shamed into lowering their petrol prices after criticism that they are fleecing drivers by charging 10p a litre more than other garages.1. Who? Who's complaining. I'm not. I know they charge more. It's a premium location, like having a cafe on St Marks Square or the Champs-Elysee. I go elsewhere. If I'm desperate, I stick a couple of gallons in - a couple of extra quid for the odd time I do that is the least of my concerns.
The inflated cost of motorway petrol is among the most common complaints of Britain’s drivers(1). At the moment, most motorists only discover they are having to pay over the odds once they have pulled off the motorway(2). Now the Government may force service stations to advertise their prices well before drivers reach the site.
...
One proposal is to include details of prices on road signs giving the distance to the nearest service stations, which happens in France. Signs on the hard shoulder could also display the prices at the next few motorway stops, enabling motorists to compare prices. The Government’s aim is to drive down by prices by forcing petrol retailers to be more competitive.(3)
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Last night the RAC welcomed Mr Cameron’s proposal. Pete Williams, a spokesman, said: “Motorway drivers have long been the victims of some pretty indefensible(3) pricing at the pumps with many service stations charging on average 10p extra per litre above the ‘high-street’ or supermarket forecourt price(4).
2. It doesn't take many times pulling off the motorway to discover that service stations charge more for everything.
3. The differential is even greater in France than here, in my experience.
4. But you're not at the supermarket. The petrol stations close to J15 and J16 of the M4 are two of the most expensive in Swindon.
What also isn't mentioned is there's a quid pro quo of service stations. If you like, a form of taxation, that the high street and supermarket stations don't have to pay, and that is that the parking and toilet facilities are for everyone. You can pull up, have a pee, open up your sarnies and flask of tea and eat your lunch and drive on. Your local BP garage may have a different outlook on this. In a roundabout way, that's the government extracting some rent for a premium location.
Of course, this is all part of the desperate blame-diversion by government, that the reason people are suffering are a few greedy companies, when in reality, most of us are getting stiffed far more paying for useless windmills than what we pay for service stations.
14 comments:
"It doesn't take many times pulling off the motorway to discover that service stations charge more for everything."
from the article :-
"Last night the RAC welcomed Mr Cameron’s proposal. Pete Williams, a spokesman, said:" etc. etc.
Perhaps the RAC, AA, Which, could print some helpful leaflets for their members - and non-members willing to pay some nominal fee - advising drivers of this hitherto unnoticed and unknown phenomenon of Motorway Services being "a tad pricey". With a helpful paragraph about the potential benefits of having "filled up the tank" well before joining the Motorway.
Yes, excellent article, I've been meaning to post exactly this for a long time, so nothing else to add.
I always use ASDA or Morrisons at Cribbs Causeway on my way down to the West Country to fill up at.
Just off the motorway, and you can stretch your legs, get a coffee, use the loos, and do a bit of last minute shopping with out getting ripped off.
How about we just send the government and all the top-level civil servants on holiday for a year and do not let them make any suggestions, proposals or anything at all? Would anyone notice?
BobE,
There's a load of sources of information for avoiding motorways, from web sites to apps. If people can't be bothered, well, that's their choice.
MW: Ta.
BB: That's a good stop (and I think visible from the M5).
Graeme: look at all the "adversity" hitting government spending. Notice anything much different than before? No, me neither.
The Stigler -
"There's a load of sources of information for avoiding motorways" etc.
Indeed, hence my t-f-i-c comment concerning "hitherto unnoticed and unknown phenomenon" penned after a quick Google check to see if the matter had been covered in the medja etc, previously ...
http://www.standard.co.uk/newsheadlines/motorway-services-rip-off-drivers-6565489.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8589123/Motorway-service-station-rip-offs.html
etc. etc. and funnily enough the latter from June 2011 actually opens with :-
"Filling up a car is significantly more expensive at a motorway service station, and so too is feeding a family, according to Which?, the consumer watchdog."
Apparently East Anglia has some of the lowest priced fuel (not, 'cheapest'...) Ordinary diesel is about 1.36.9? Am I right?
Mind you, I buy Shell V Power for the racer, and that is not cheap...Good though.
It's also worth noting that KFC are unusual in not ramping their prices up in services. They just automatically serve you a large meal unless you ask otherwise. I generally stop at Welcome Break services simply because of this.
See, watching for prices and cherishing value for money is a good thing. Shouldn't governments be encouraging it instead of making daft excuses for those who can't be bothered? {sigh}
Or thinking about this, yes, motorway services do take the piss a bit with their prices.
If I have a six hour motorway journey ahead with family, I can either make the kids eat a big breakfast and then go hungry until we get there, go to the faff of making sandwiches, or we can stop off for a 'welcome break' and maybe overpay by a couple of quid for a McMeal and coffee half way there.
Taking everything - including the time value of money and the money value of time, plus the fact that I actually quite like motorway service stops - into account, that is still the most rational way of doing it.
Those extra profits go into rent for whoever owns the hallowed sites. If the government really wanted to get prices down, it would simply allow services to be built at every single junction* instead of every four or five, hey presto, problem (largely) solved - the rents would be competed away.
* See also "German motorways" which have a much more communal feel.
As long as you have enough fuel - and most vehicles have about a 400 mile range - you can always take a turn off and seek out a pub or similar. After travelling up and down to the NE for many years we got expert at doing this, and pretty well always found something good and good value.
I also use the M6 toll quite a bit. The fee is high but the traffic is light and the service area(s) are excellent and clean and seem a little less costly than the non-toll M roads.
Well, a tad pricey or not, these places obviously have their fans ..
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324428/Chris-Huhne-enjoys-freedom-fry-cross-dressing-artist-Grayson-Perry.html
We all know that motorway services charge more for, as Mark says, just about everything; from sandwiches, to confectionery, and petrol. That they're charging these prices, and that people are still buying, would suggest the market is working as intended. I don't like paying the inflated prices so that's why I make sure I buy my petrol before I start out on a long motorway journey.
The Cowboy Online,
Well, it's not particularly competitive. If you don't like the price of fuel, but realise you're running low on fuel, you maybe don't have much option.
Part of this is an information problem. I happen to know where to get cheap fuel near Northampton on the M1, but a lot of people don't.
But in reality, the cost of getting that information has fallen dramatically. You don't have to go into a town and hunt around for a petrol station - you can get a GPS app for a smartphone for £25 that does the job.
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