The worst-ranked motorway service station in Britain

A service station on the M1 in South Yorkshire has been rated the UK’s best motorway service with a near 100 per cent satisfaction rate.

Welcome Break Rotherham achieved a 99 per cent score, with more than eight in 10 guests saying they would recommend the services, according to a poll of 37,000 motorists by Transport Focus.

Some 123 motorway services were included in the survey, which 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 per cent satisfaction rate, including the likes of Moto Rugby, Moto Sawtry and Welcome Break Sam Park.

Meanwhile, Watford Gap Northbound ranked last place for overall satisfaction. The satisfaction score for the Northamptonshire services has fallen by nine per cent since 2023.

Watford Gap, which sits on the M1 and is operated by Roadchef, also has southbound services that placed in the bottom five.

Rotherham is one of the newest motorway services in the country after opening in January 2025, while Watford Gap is the joint oldest, having opened in November 1959.

Roadchef runs 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.

The average score of all of their services was 93 per cent, 3 per cent 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 per cent 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 reported a 90 per cent rate of satisfaction and so were less satisfied with facilities than the general public.

Only 54 per cent viewed HGV parking availability positively, 51 per cent said the number of showers was sufficient and 42 per cent were happy with the value of the parking package.

Value for money was another metric that was rated lower. No services scored higher than 74 per cent for the value of their food and drink.

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