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05/05/2009
High prices at many motorway service stations could be undermining the Government's attempts to cut road accidents, motoring groups have claimed.
Last week, research by Which? Car found that prices at motorway services were often significantly higher than for equivalent products sold elsewhere.
Although commending toilet facilities for being "generally impressively clean and well-presented", the consumer group found bottled water costing four times as much as at a supermarket, and diesel at 13p a litre more than at a non-motorway fuelling station.
Which? Car's editor Richard Headland advised price-conscious consumers to stock up on food and drink before heading onto the motorway.
"By all means stop at a motorway service station to use the toilets or have a break from driving, but remember they don't always offer value for money," he said.
Motorway service providers, which have long faced criticism over their retail pricing, say that their offerings can seem expensive because of the high overheads associated with running a service operation.
By law, refreshments and free toilet facilities must be available at all times at designated motorway service areas. Operators say that this, and the cost of building and maintaining car parks, slip roads and other site facilities, means that they have to charge more than other retailers.
A statement from major operator Moto said that the Which? survey had failed to compare like-for-like brands and products, and that the results were therefore misleading.
"Government restrictions do not allow motorway service areas to be supermarkets and therefore we cannot charge supermarket prices," the company said.
Meanwhile, motoring groups have warned that the situation could have implications for road safety.
"If the price of food, drink and fuel puts [drivers] off stopping then this could have a serious effect on the rate of accidents on motorways," said the RAC Foundation's Philip Gomm.
"It also undermines the Government's attempts to continue reducing the number of those injured and killed on the roads."
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