Staying overnight in Motorway services

[nesty]

Is there a general rule you can't? Do they have security people move you on or fine you via number plate cameras?

Gonna do a UK tour in March and plot varouis places (not campsites for cheapish) to stay overnight.

[purplecrocs]

There are always signs up saying '2 hours maximum stay' or some such... not sure if they actually do anything about it or not...

[Doctor Foster]

Depends which services you are staying at. Most have websites. You get two hours free parking. To stay longer they will charge you depending on vehicle. Michaelwood services on M5 charge £17.50 for a caravan

[Doctor Foster]

http://www.ukmotorhomes.net/ukaires.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[T'Onion]

https://club8090.co.uk/forum./viewtopic.php?f=7&t=63459
http://www.wildcamping.co.uk/forums/

Be very careful staying over night in any UK services , read the parking instructions very carefully , most have the reg plate camera's

Whatever and wherever you finish up , do a write up when you get back

[Plasticman]

As T'onion says, but....they are ppc's, they cannot fine they can only issue an unenforcable invoice .if the sighns detail clamping then its a different matter and too long to go into here and not worth your bother,
Personally I dont use them for fuel or bogs or anything, retail rabble, avoid like the plague. there I feel better now..
Mike

[nesty]

OK I might look into a campsite then. I am only after them for the showers!

[Madwitch]

If you join the camping & caravanning club, there are some of their sites where you can pay £5 to use all their facilities for 3 hours without camping (showers, washers, driers, disposal points etc) Less hassle than motorway service stations and much more pleasant! If you aren't already a member but decide to join, quote my membership number and I'll get a £5 voucher! PM me for details!

[eatcustard]

Little tip

If the camera sees the drivers face, he/she will have to pay.

If not, the need to prove who was driving so you can get away with it.

But they all have CCTV cameras up.

[Louey]

I used the service station just south of Bristol once, but we had actually broken down (electrical problem). You buy a ticket and is boring - good job we were in a camper and had lots of food. As for the showers, you usually have to queue and sometimes they are hard to find. Is it worth it? Can you do without a shower for a day or two - you are just gonna get back in the driving seat and sweat again

Sometimes its just best to look at http://www.streetmap.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and look for a side road near a motorway junction and park up - I've used and I think others have used petrol stations or Little Chefs. Tell us all where you are travelling as someone might have used somewhere suitable already.

[andisnewsyncro]

I have overnighted at services before, not a great experience but it's worth a look at what it says on the ticket machine. I remember one where it specifically said that you could pay £8 for an overnight ticket and then exchange your ticket for £6 worth of coffee etc from the cafe in the morning.

Not too bad a deal except that £6 doesn't get you much in the way of breakfast at these robbing places

[Damien]

We did a couple of stop overs in services, it does depend largely on which services you stop in, when we went to wales we stopped at the end of the M4 can't remember the name of it and stayed over night with no problem then on the way back we kipped at another one which actually had a whole row for long stay/overnight park ups, there was no charge for this at all and quite a few people were doing it.

[melmelody]

hi everyone
me back again from the fatherland.i just got back from the uk and i think ,oh my shaggin good god wot has gone wrong??? nearly 3 quid for a brew at a (lack of )service station run by retarded people and i hear you happy people say they take photos of you for staying too long in their crappy over priced badly run (by retarded people or just morons who never went to school)who get very anti with you when you explain to them ( very politley that they really should not have aimed so high in their employment plans to working in a motorway service station at 3 in the morning on a sunday for a fiver an hour when all they can can answer with is yeah warrevva if you don like it go some where else!!) probably not correct grammar but heh ho , not lived in the uk for 15 years . i feel so sorry for you all - gen up. these establishments are a complete rip off one tip i have that might work is for those of you who have imported vans get a set of german plates made of the old german reg no. that will pi$$ them right off when they try to chase up the no . plate. also it wont be traceable back here. or you could try the "ich kannicht english sprachen ,nur deutsch.KEIN ENGLISH! ICH NICHT VERSTANDIS ! this might be spelt wrong too but it will work .just make sure you put a hint of john cleese on it if you know what i mean.i hope these tips might be of some use .me these days i just try and avoid the place completely. just my choice no offence meant to all you fine people living there but i know i can pull over in any ratzplatz in germany and it cost me nowt- stay all night if i want still nowt have a shower costs 3 euros but you can stay in there for 3 hours if you want to ,plus you can power up from mains , i think its about 10 bucks but then the restaurants dont rip you off . i think i would just avoid them or if approached pepper spray them and say you felt your safety was at risk .muppets .its just another way for these big firms to rip off normal, just going about there business people, who only want to stop for a rest or go for a widdle .okay thats me done with my whinging but i thought the great british people fought a war against the country i now live in to prevent what is now happening in the country i was born in and you people all live in. makes you wonder if it was all worthwhile does'nt it it think the people need to take a stand and just boycott them point blank.VIVA La REVOLUTION!!!!

[72BUG]

Very very keen on the 2 hour rule at services so be careful. I was actually working installing some pipelines inside a service station and they ticketed my lorry while I was working

No word of a lie. I couldn't believe it.

You can pay for an overnight stay usually if you're desperate, but for what they charge you'd be better off finding a nice camp site.

[Plasticman]

I can beleive it martin , but ticket all they like, they get filed in the bin where they belong,
mike