Watford Gap north M1 services in Northamptonshire ranked ‘worst’ in the country

Watford Gap Northbound Services on the M1 in Northamptonshire has been ranked last place for overall satisfaction in a new survey, making it the ‘worst’ in the country.

Transport Focus’s user survey asked people about toilets, accessibility, food and drink, facilities for HGV and lorry drivers and electric vehicle (EV) charging in a bid to find Britain’s best and worst motorway services.

A new service station on the M1 in South Yorkshire was rated Britain’s best motorway services with a near 100 per cent score.

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

Seven other services received a 99 per cent satisfaction rate, including Moto Rugby, Moto Sawtry and Welcome Break Sam Park.

A total of 123 motorway services were included in the survey, with Watford Gap Northbound in Northamptonshire ranking last place for overall satisfaction.

The satisfaction score for the Northamptonshire services has declined 9 per cent since 2023.

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

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

Watford Gap is located between junctions 16 to17 and is open 24/7, welcoming customers from all over the globe each year.

The site features a 24/7 McDonald's alongside a Costa Coffee, Chozen Noodle and WHSmith.

Northbound has a 4.1 star rating on Google reviews, while Tripadvisor ranks it as just 2.6 stars.

In 2023 the Chron reported that major plans are in the pipeline to bring the iconic service station into ‘the future’.

Roadchef operates four of the five services with the lowest overall satisfaction and 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.

This is an increase of 13 per cent since 2022 but still 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, with no services scoring 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.

Words by Nathan Tucker, PA