Sleeping overnight at motorway service station- anyone done it?

£20 for sleeping at a petrol station? wow. you have weird rules. What happens if I ignore this?

 

You can expect a fine in the post.

 

Yep that's how you pay too. Go in shop, they find a snapshot of your vehicle entering the services on the computer, then they rob you!
Dick turpins motorway services.....

 

Motorway service stations are a rip off..

I travel down from Wolverhampton to Devon every so often and stop off at Bristol Asda..Not because I like Arsda... The fuel is about 15p per litre cheaper than the services and there's toilets and a cafe.

 

If you're coming down the A303, there's a carpark by the Little Chef at Popham. Often noticed truckers kipping there (taking up 400 parking spaces with their trailers). There's also a proper little truck-parking place, but there is the danger of being murdered and buried in the bushes, of course...

 

Talking of buried in the bush... It must nearly be bed time

 

Not until I've watched the US dispatch Portugal...

 

1-0 Portugal so far.

 

Use to at the Bristol services on way to Cornwall, never paid a penny.

To any threatening letters I get off the parking contractors

 

1-1 Go USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic goal!

 

Damn. My secret's out ...

 

Probably nothing if you have foreign plates! I don't think they would really go to the trouble of finding you.

 

Don't park next to a fridge truck. The fridge will keep stopping and starting all night. I often used to park in the non petrol station aires in France when on trips. Last year however we were travelling from Calais to Girona via Andorra and we stopped at one. This was with a 4x4 and caravan. And we decided that as it was late and I was pushing to cover miles we would stop in an aire instead of finding a campsite. Well we found a great spot in a quiet aire. Stopped had dinner and just so I didn't have to faf about I didn't put the legs down. Anyway in the middle of the night we heard some odd noises and I put the awning light on and looked out. Didn't see anything there and with the noise stopped went to sleep. When we got up in the morning I found the door lock very stiff. Got put had a look and the lock was completely ruined. Someone had been trying to get in to it with a screwdriver and had wrecked it. This was now a problem as it was the start of the holiday and we couldn't lock the van at all. Once in Spain I found a motorhome shop and put a fiamma security lock over the door lock but it cost me 35 euros. Then another £40 for a new door lock when at home. I think it was cheaper to satay on a site next time!
Having said that we stayed in a layby on the way to Cornwall a few weeks ago and there were loads of others doing the same. I would have no problem in this country but have had a few problems in others.

 

None of the fines you would get at the services are enforceable , got 1 from parking eye when I broke down years ago they're just made to look like fines, just ignore them.

 

20 years ago I had a T1 mercedes 307d that I did a rough conversion on and spent a year working and travelling around Greece and Turkey. During that time I free camped the whole time. I only had 2 times when I was rudely awoken at 2 am by gangs of men in shorts and tee shirts with machine guns asking for my passport .
Luckily they were police and they advised me on both occasions to stay in towns. The best one I had was a petrol station in Turkey where they saw the curtains open and brought me a coffee free for breakfast. I used to stop all the time in them there. I would stop and top off the diesel tank and then ask if I could sleep( with my best hand signals!) great experience.