Any motorist who has had to stop for fuel on the motorway will have experienced the problem that the Government is now looking into, which is the abnormally high cost of fuel at motorway service stations. For many years motorists have complained about them and avoided them as much as possible.
Last week the Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling announced that the Government will be launching an inquiry into the ‘exploitative’ pricing of motorway service stations. If they do find that the pricing is taking advantage of the scarcity of fuel options on motorways then they could follow it up with reforms to how much motorway service station operators can charge for fuel.
Fairer deal for motorists
The announcement came from the secretary this week and accused the big three motorway service station operations: Moto, Welcome Break, and Roadchef for exploiting motorway drivers. He launched an investigation to make sure drivers get a ‘fairer deal’ because motorway forecourts can be up to 19p more than elsewhere.
In response, Roadchef said it was not responsible for setting the prices for petrol and diesel in its stations while Moto said that the price reflected the cost of ‘building and running services.’ It added that many of the forecourts were owned by fuel companies who set prices to reflect the ‘complexities of motorway trading’ such as round the clock opening. They also added that where they do own the forecourt, they make sure they match the fuel company’s price.
The third company mentioned on the list, Welcome Break, have yet to issue a comment on their position regarding motorway fuel prices and their stations, but no doubt they will have a similar set of reasons to explain why pricing is much higher.
Less choice, higher prices
In his letter to Andrea Coscelli, the head of the Competitions and Markets Authority, Mr Grayling, said that he was concerned that these forecourts exploited drivers in the situation where there were less choice and competition. He added that it discouraged motorists from stopping and refuelling, which they need to do for safety reasons.
He requested a view from the CMA (formerly the Office of Fair Trading) as to whether the three companies currently operating the majority of motorway service areas (MSAs) were exercising ‘market power to the detriment of motorists.’
The three companies in question run a total of 112 MSAs around the UK. Industry figures published this week show that the average unleaded petrol price from an MSA is 137.7p while the average price around the UK is 120.11p. The average price at the supermarket is just 116.74p. It would mean filling up the average car would cost around £10 more at a motorway station.
Growing problem
Many motorists would happily tell Mr Grayling this isn’t a new problem and figures show it is one that is getting worse. In 2011, the RAC compiled figures that showed that the prices at the motorway pump were 7.5p higher than elsewhere. Another study in 2013 found prices were ‘significantly’ more expensive in motorway service stations.
The Secretary admitted that he understood that MSAs have higher overheads and infrastructure costs but that the higher prices were not ‘fully explained’ by the companies. Other previous concerns involved not being able to see the price of the fuel until they had left the motorway, or making companies add signs visible from the motorway, which could encourage operators to lower prices to bring more drivers in.
Others are against the idea of regulation and interference in the market. They say that motorists know that it is more expensive to fill up on the motorway and this is why the price signs trial on the M5 had no impact on things. And drivers make their preferences known by not using the services and filling up before they depart. Although that view may be true to regular UK motorway drivers, a visiting driver from the Continent will have no idea of this disparity and will suffer an unfair price difference due to ignorance of this unique UK price differential.
Enthusiastic response
Motoring agencies were quick to offer an enthusiastic response to Mr Grayling’s move. Simon Williams from the RAC welcomed the minister’s intervention and said they had been calling for measures to be taken around the topic for a long time. They believe that there’s nothing to justify the sky-high prices at the motorway pump and the prices mean motorists fill up only the minimum and risk running out of fuel.
Luke Bosdet from The AA said that motorists had been treated like ‘hostages’ by MSAs and that they welcomed any move to deter ‘rip off’ prices at motorway pumps.
And Jason Lloyd, Managing Director of PetrolPrices.com added: “This is great news for motorists if something actually happens this time. MSAs have been very good at being able to argue that the costs of running a motorway service station are much greater and therefore a higher price is needed.
I think the MSAs and the Government need to pull in the same direction. Price transparency and better availability of information about where you can fill up from motorways are more important than operators who choose to have high prices.
At the moment it’s a captive market, if you break the captivity by making it easier for people to see where to get it from off the motorway nearby and the price difference then the normal laws of price competition start to operate.”
Is this Government inquiry and the reform of motorway service station fuel prices long overdue? Should fuel pricing be regulated or do you think allowing market forces to set pricing is the best way? Let us know in the comments below.
They need to have a look at the food prices in the motorway service stations as well as fuel prices….. Daylight robbery!!!
Flat white at high street Costa -£2.60. Motorway price, same product £3.65. Why?
Because people buy it.
Even night time
Simple way to fix this. Just boycott the motorway fuel outlets. How many people need to fill up on a journey these days anyway?
It is well over due, i myself come off the motorway and fuel at nearest garage, but NOT like the one near Junction 29A where it is same as motorway prices if not more i think at mo it stands at 1.33 per litre
Junction 29A of which motorway?
Higher fuel prices on motorway service areas have been the case since motorways were opened. It used to be the understanding that the price of the concession paid to the government was the reason. So is this really news? No. Solution is simple. Fill up off the motorway. Foreigners will probably think twice when they see the price of UK fuel in any case.
Not only do fuel prices need investigating so do all prices on motorway need looking at especially the cost of overnight parking for heavy goods vehicles which are parking anywhere they can because the drivers simply cannot afford the extortionate prices.
I often drive from near Reading to Edinburgh, before I leave I fill the tank, I then have enough fuel to get to Edinburgh and for another 200 miles. Before returning I fill up again, so never use the fuel on motorways.
Just think ahead and you never have to use this high price fuel.
Now we have to sort out the price of coffee!
Like many others have said, just plan ahead of you’re going on a long journey. Even Cornwall to Scotland can be done on a single fill up.
Similarly, stock up on snacks to keep you going, rather than pay inflated prices. Hot drink wanted, you might need to ‘bit the bullet’ unless you take a flask.
Need to stop for a ‘comfort’ break, that’s unavoidable, but at least it’s free. If they can take the pee, so can you!
In summary, BOYCOTT THEM.
Good news but should have happened a long time ago. I NEVER use motorway services (except for their toilets!), always filling up at the start of the journey and taking a flask and snacks for breaks. If everyone did this for a time, they would be forced to do something or go bust.
Fuel is cheaper on Isle of Man than motorway service stations. If they are worried about cost go pay at the pump. It’s been a rip off for years
Do you think that if the government looks in to this if thy reduce the price thy will not get as much fuel tax so do you think thy will put the price down I think not
Yes fill up off the motorway where you can. We tow and often have to fill up on long journeys especially when going across the channel on the ferry, 460 miles home to port. Try to do that with one top up as there is a filling station outside Portsmouth Ferry terminal. Fill up at Ouistreham on the ther side for the return journey.
Food on the motorway is well over priced too and in many instances either the hot items are cold or almost unfit for human consumption, especially at night.
Westmorland bring the exception food is always good but their fuel prices are normally the highest on the network unless you spend £30 or more in their shop to get voucher for “x” p off a litre.
Bit of a Dick Turpin setup…. Highway Robbery.
Perhaps they could also look at the cost of fuel in the countryside areas, as the fuel is also extortionate out of towns and cities tool. This increases the cost of living for countryside dwellers and not all of us are rolling in money. Some of us barely earn a living wage.
On Sunday, diesel in Blythe Services on the A1 was £1.469 a litre. I had filled up in Stockton (NE) at £1.179 per litre the previous Thursday and topped up in Diss on the Sunday at £1.209 per litre. Strangely, I didn’t top up at Blythe…
David Walland
I downloaded for free a POI file for the satnav that shows me all filling stations and their brand. I leave the motorway to fill up at a supermarket, if I forget to do it on the way to the motorway. Boycott the price gougers is my motto.
I was going to start a journey from Birmingham to Watchet. I took a route that included the Morrisons supermarket at Rubery, near Junction 4 of the M5. Their price was as bad as Motorway prices, so I went back to Sainsburys in Northfield a couple of miles further away from the motorway. The price there was 10 cheaper per litre, and well repaid the extra 6 miles round trip. I did once have to add fuel on the motorway on another occasion, but only bought £10 worth at Jcn 18 to get me to Sainsbury’s in Taunton where I could fill up there. I had found their station at Jcn2 to be closed, as was the junction itself.
Normally I plan where I will get my fuel, and I have a visit to Taunton 19 miles away early next week, so will be sparing of mileage until I go. I am still using the fuel I bought a week ago.
Some people have said that the fuel sold at supermarkets is substandard in some way, but I haven’t noticed.
Its exactly the same stuff but has less additives added than the branded fuels.
I once had to do the same thing at the same service area-one and only time on a motorway.
Government Inquiry, is it a joke? Thats just to delay the outcome. Its simple greed on the part of fuel companies and fuel outlets, and idleness on the part of SOME company vehicle drivers who dont care how much fuel costs.
Oh and not just motorways by the way. Eg the fuel place at Blythe Services on the A1, Petrol at 1.41 and diesel 1.43 last Sunday. Scruffy place too. Esso I think.
i always fill at my local service station before i leave,iy is the old story people still buy because their lazy,BUT yes it time to standardise the price of fuel,cheaper price more people would stop and enjoy a rest with a cup of coffee etc,BUT some services need a good clean up
I can’t remember when I last used a motorway service area to fill the tank. It must be tens of years. The only way to bring prices down is to use the cheapest places to fill up and that applies off the motorways too.
Motorway service stations should use pay at pump – just like petrol stations at supermarkets. There is then NO excuse for charging more than supermarket prices.
Probably due to the rents etc charged by the government !
I have ALWAYS in recent years driven off the motorways to get CHEAPER fuel , ALWAYS a reasonable short distance and of course at a GREAT SAVING, then resuming my journey , ALSO food is ALSO CHEAPER !!
Is there a location-sensitive app that would tell you where to pull off for sensible fuel prices, and how far from the junction the filling station is? If not, PetrolPrices should develop it.
Thanks for suggesting this idea, we’ll have a look at it!
Waze. Its a free navigation app, available on either platforms it can provide you all information you need on the go. Inc 25miles radius fuel prices traffic speed traps dangerous potholes or even you can ask for help from an other user comes along your route. Massive multimillion community accurate real-time rod traffic reports. Give it a go u won’t regret it.
See my comment today on how to do this-can also be don by selecting where to stop and use the Petrol Prices search engine to find the cheapest fuel near the motorway.
If service station were cheaper, then more drivers would stop and fill up. Win win situation, I can see the logic why can’t they, also if they did drop their prices as too local supermarkets, they would make tons more money, and maybe, drop food prices too and get even more money rolling in, I always take a flask and sandwiches on long run and fill up tank so not to get robbed by motorway services, don’t start me on parking charges another big rip off overstay big no no big fine,
I think that it is about time these motorway service stations were regulated. They have been having a laugh at motorist’s expense for too long! Surely all other service stations have similar so called set up costs, so I can’t see how their increased fuel costs are justified.
Only the very worst drivers use motorway service stations for fuel. There are plenty of garages and supermarkets with filling stations attached just off of most motorways.
Having said that, fuel up before you get on the motorway is another option.
What about the overnight parking charges for HGV Companies/drivers, up to £30 per night and they are always full.
I think you’ve just answered your own question, Dave.
This has been the case ever since motorways came in in the UK. I had always assumed it was partly exploitation of a local monopoly but largely due to mad rents and rates extorted by the govt. I look forward to finding out the real facts.
Mad Rents charged by Moto, Welcome Break and Roadchef. if this is the problem, then hopefully the investigation will identify and highlight it.
If not and its pure gouging, due to captive market, they need taking to task.
There were many good and bad points made, however what I found funny was: “Although that view may be true to regular UK motorway drivers, a visiting driver from the Continent will have no idea of this disparity and will suffer an unfair price difference due to ignorance of this unique UK price differential.” This is funny, because in almost every country in EU there is exactly the same situation, probably worst country for that is Germany, so it is definitely not unique to UK. I have literally spent most ever on single tank of petrol in Germany, furthermore unlike UK only the motorway stations work during the night, so you simply have no option. In UK at least you can find the station 10 miles off the motorway even at night (maybe harder in Scotland/Wales), but in Germany you won’t – all petrol stations in the cities closes at 10… end-off. So you have to go back on motorway and refuel. Probably the biggest disparity between motorway and non-motorways stations are on paid Polish roads. On the motorway price is like 5.5zl (~£1.15), whereas outside of motorway it could be as low as 2.7zl (sometimes two same brand stations are literally on the different sides of toll booth and you can see massive difference in prices – almost want to get jerry can and make few trips around), the good news petrol is generally cheap there anyway, but that is almost double the price.
So in summary – fuel is more expensive on motorways in any country. That is unfair because it is cheaper to run motorway station £/litre due to high turn around and the business model is quite obvious – they fish for people who don’t care or simply don’t know the area and are afraid to leave motorway. Is that really the biggest problem around – I doubt… I would rather want to know what government does with 36bn raised every year from motorists and why I have to drive over ever bigger potholes… so they have money for cycling lanes, for speed bumps every 5 meters, for all fancy an unnecessary islands, but not for fixing potholes?!.
As others have rightly said, it’s all a rip-off. They charge extortionate prices because they can get away with it. They give the usual excuses of operating costs, blah, blah, blah, but yet other service stations can operate a 24/7 service and don’t charge the earth. As for fuel supply, they are the easiest of ones to get to by the tankers, unlike some remote out of the way petrol station. As for the ‘government inquiry’, that will just be a waste of a couple of million of taxpayers money, and the end result will be that they conclude that they are overpriced, but all they can do is suggest they reduce their prices.
Anyone stupid enough to re-fuel at a Motorway Service Area deserves all they get. It’s simple common sense to incorporate fuel needs as part of your journey plan. Most cars these days have a range of around 600-700 miles, so there’s no excuse whatsoever for needing to fuel up on the Motorway.
You get 600-700 in most diesel cars. In older cars, small petrol cars, or when towing a trailer or caravan, this can easily drop to 200-300 miles
I can’t honestly see the Government investigating this, after all, the more a Service Station charges for fuel, the more it takes in, in VAT revenue. It would be a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas.
This situation has always existed. The root of the problem is mandatory 24-hour running and the extremely high charges paid by operators to the government, for the ‘privilege’ of being present on the Motorways. If the site rental charges were lowered, it might help. Another thing I’ve noticed – if you drive anywhere in Europe, you will find that the toilets at motorway services charge for usage, but in the UK they have to be free-of-charge. Simply allow the introduction of such charges in the UK and that would help lower operating costs. The cost of fuel is a no-win situation – everybody knows that motorway services charge more, so take care not to need to fill up at motorway services, but the resulting lower sales volumes will push up the pump price because oil companies always charge less to retailers who can sell more. Fuel prices at motorway services are thereby trapped at a high level. With sat nav getting more sophisticated and virtually everybody having smart phones, finding well-priced alternatives to the motorway service pump price ought to be easier nowadays.
Had to use a motorway station yesterday, it was £1.41 per Lt. I put £15 in as I was nearly home. If it had been normal pricing I would have filled up, so they have lost £50’s worth of custom!
The article refers to prices at motorway petrol stations being as much as 19p. higher than at stations not near motorways. Yesterday I had to put a few litres into my car at a Shell station by the M74 in Scotland, paying an outrageous £1.399/litre. Later the same day I filled the tank at another Shell station (in Musselburgh) with the same unleaded petrol and paid 20p. less per litre. That equates to 90.9p more per imperial gallon !
It’s not long since the government had an investigation into general price fixing of all fuel. The report said there was no evidence of price fixing. We all know that this is not true and is blatantly obvious when the same firms charge significantly less at a location only 10 miles apart but both Supermarkets charge the same at each location. So let’s stop wasting money on government investigations and lining the pockets of bureaucrats.
It would ok to charge this type of high price for the fuel if they paid the staff a good wage instead of minimum wages and a lot of bull
The greed of the oil companies is always deemed ok at these service stations what would be a better idea is to charge the same price no matter where you fuel up this would be fairer to everyone and the fat cats would still get rich but not at everybody else’s expense maybe if the government at last got off their backsides this Robles might get resolved…
It is easy enough to avoid high motorway prices on motorways by thinking ahead. I travel to Cornwall from London on occasion and plan a quick detour off the M5 motorway in the Bristol area at junction 17 where a major supermarket chain has a petrol station a couple of minutes from the motorway so get a much cheaper deal. This can be done for any long motorway journey by searching for petrol stations on a satnav and seeing where they are in relation to junctions on your route.
None the less, petrol companies have ripped off motorists for years and the practice should be stopped.
There’s also a large Sainsbury’s at Taunton, Istr the pay at pump is 24hr.
About time they did something , had it too easy for too long at the motorists expense , when i do a long journey i always carry a jerry can in the knowledge that services are a ripoff all round even the airline has to be paid for
Done a lot of miles in my haulage career and always found cheaper fuel not too far from motorways. Come on Britain wake up and smell the coffee boycott the money grabbing morons, and i have just found out that another services is to be built on the M1 motorway “who’s going to pay for that “???. i thought dick turpin was dead obviously not .
The prices reflect the captive market, there is no competition for miles around on the motorway so they can charge what they like. Also when you look at it they provide a safe place to park up and rest for a few hours and a clean toilet for free. So the higher prices are probably there to cover those costs.
With a bit of planning you can often find a supermarket filling station close to many motorways.
Clearly drivers are unhappy with motorway pricing and have been for some time. Getting a fuel card might be a good way around this for some who drive for work. You pay the set weekly pricing, not the pump price. Though there isn’t much we can do about the cleanliness of the loos, unfortunately!
They need to have a look at the food prices in the motorway service stations as well as fuel prices….. Daylight robbery!!!
Flat white at high street Costa -£2.60. Motorway price, same product £3.65. Why?
Because people buy it.
Simple way to fix this. Just boycott the motorway fuel outlets. How many people need to fill up on a journey these days anyway?
It is well over due, i myself come off the motorway and fuel at nearest garage, but NOT like the one near Junction 29A where it is same as motorway prices if not more i think at mo it stands at 1.33 per litre
Junction 29A of which motorway?
Higher fuel prices on motorway service areas have been the case since motorways were opened. It used to be the understanding that the price of the concession paid to the government was the reason. So is this really news? No. Solution is simple. Fill up off the motorway. Foreigners will probably think twice when they see the price of UK fuel in any case.
Not only do fuel prices need investigating so do all prices on motorway need looking at especially the cost of overnight parking for heavy goods vehicles which are parking anywhere they can because the drivers simply cannot afford the extortionate prices.
I often drive from near Reading to Edinburgh, before I leave I fill the tank, I then have enough fuel to get to Edinburgh and for another 200 miles. Before returning I fill up again, so never use the fuel on motorways.
Just think ahead and you never have to use this high price fuel.
Now we have to sort out the price of coffee!
Like many others have said, just plan ahead of you’re going on a long journey. Even Cornwall to Scotland can be done on a single fill up.
Similarly, stock up on snacks to keep you going, rather than pay inflated prices. Hot drink wanted, you might need to ‘bit the bullet’ unless you take a flask.
Need to stop for a ‘comfort’ break, that’s unavoidable, but at least it’s free. If they can take the pee, so can you!
In summary, BOYCOTT THEM.
Good news but should have happened a long time ago. I NEVER use motorway services (except for their toilets!), always filling up at the start of the journey and taking a flask and snacks for breaks. If everyone did this for a time, they would be forced to do something or go bust.
Fuel is cheaper on Isle of Man than motorway service stations. If they are worried about cost go pay at the pump. It’s been a rip off for years
Do you think that if the government looks in to this if thy reduce the price thy will not get as much fuel tax so do you think thy will put the price down I think not