Will it come?
I don’t use them for overnight parking or meals, but only for Gregg’s coffee and toilet facilities.
So the Gregg’s part has gone, and if they do eventually close up completely like everywhere else, wiith the toilets locked, it’s going to he a bit of a pain from a tramper’s point of view…literally.
Aren’t they legislated to be open all the time? I can see them being classed as part of key infrastructure tbh.
That’s going to be s problem. I’m too tight to waste 5p for a dump [emoji2957]
But seriously. The lockdown is risking starving the hands that feed the nation
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David5l:
That’s going to be s problem. I’m too tight to waste 5p for a dump [emoji2957]
But seriously. The lockdown is risking starving the hands that feed the nationSent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
Where abouts does it cost you 5p for a dump?
Jimmy McNulty:
David5l:
That’s going to be s problem. I’m too tight to waste 5p for a dump [emoji2957]
But seriously. The lockdown is risking starving the hands that feed the nationSent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
Where abouts does it cost you 5p for a dump?
The carrier bag [emoji16]
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Bugger, did you say Greggs have shut up shop at MSA’s? now that is a crisis 
MSA’s are legally bound to stay open
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robroy:
Will it come?
I don’t use them for overnight parking or meals, but only for Gregg’s coffee and toilet facilities.
So the Gregg’s part has gone, and if they do eventually close up completely like everywhere else, wiith the toilets locked, it’s going to he a bit of a pain from a tramper’s point of view…literally.
It’s an interesting question. I would expect the washing and toilet facilities would stay open as I understand there is legislation governing that side of things, but as for the restaurant, shop, eateries and coffee bars, who knows? Have the Costa’s and McDonald’s closed in them today in-line with their high street closures? That would perhaps provide some clues. Do the MSA staff come under “key workers” or not? If not then there would be no-one to staff them and so they’d have to close. I guess if you’re doing tramping that you should leave yourself time to divert to a supermarket to pick up supplies and use their facilities, or take enough food with you from home to last the week? 
I can see everything closing apart from the toilets and obviously parking. You would like to think they would stop charging for the parking since there are minimal facilities, although I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Even if they only have parking and make it free, they would still need at least one member of staff on at all times to act as security, otherwise travellers will end up taking over half the MSAs up and down the country
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R420:
robroy:
Will it come?
I don’t use them for overnight parking or meals, but only for Gregg’s coffee and toilet facilities.
So the Gregg’s part has gone, and if they do eventually close up completely like everywhere else, wiith the toilets locked, it’s going to he a bit of a pain from a tramper’s point of view…literally.It’s an interesting question. I would expect the washing and toilet facilities would stay open as I understand there is legislation governing that side of things, but as for the restaurant, shop, eateries and coffee bars, who knows? Have the Costa’s and McDonald’s closed in them today in-line with their high street closures? That would perhaps provide some clues. Do the MSA staff come under “key workers” or not? If not then there would be no-one to staff them and so they’d have to close. I guess if you’re doing tramping that you should leave yourself time to divert to a supermarket to pick up supplies and use their facilities, or take enough food with you from home to last the week?
Yeh I’m hoping the toilets and showers are staying open, toilets for obvious reasons,.and the nature of my job, means few of the places I go to have shower facilities.
I always take plenty of food with me, so supermarket use is not a problem, unless I run out.
Maccys, Gregg’s and the like have shut down yeh, with the staff obviously gone, so the only requirement would be a security type team to man the open site for crime prevention and to keep an eye on the toilets for vandalism and the like.
Whether they will or not remains to be seen, but not sure if it’s a legal requirement or not, I’d like to think so though.
robroy:
R420:
robroy:
Will it come?
I don’t use them for overnight parking or meals, but only for Gregg’s coffee and toilet facilities.
So the Gregg’s part has gone, and if they do eventually close up completely like everywhere else, wiith the toilets locked, it’s going to he a bit of a pain from a tramper’s point of view…literally.It’s an interesting question. I would expect the washing and toilet facilities would stay open as I understand there is legislation governing that side of things, but as for the restaurant, shop, eateries and coffee bars, who knows? Have the Costa’s and McDonald’s closed in them today in-line with their high street closures? That would perhaps provide some clues. Do the MSA staff come under “key workers” or not? If not then there would be no-one to staff them and so they’d have to close. I guess if you’re doing tramping that you should leave yourself time to divert to a supermarket to pick up supplies and use their facilities, or take enough food with you from home to last the week?
Yeh I’m hoping the toilets and showers are staying open, toilets for obvious reasons,.and the nature of my job, means few of the places I go to have shower facilities.
I always take plenty of food with me, so supermarket use is not a problem, unless I run out.Maccys, Gregg’s and the like have shut down yeh, with the staff obviously gone, so the only requirement would be a security type team to man the open site for crime prevention and to keep an eye on the toilets for vandalism and the like.
Whether they will or not remains to be seen, but not sure if it’s a legal requirement or not, I’d like to think so though.
What’s still open in them currently? Is it just the bogs/showers/petrol and main shop, or is the main shop closed as well?
The cynical side of me tells me that even in the event of an apocalypse they’d still stay open… but not out of a duty of care - no no, but just to ensure they get their £30 a pop from those pesky truckers clogging the place up. 
R420:
robroy:
R420:
robroy:
Will it come?
I don’t use them for overnight parking or meals, but only for Gregg’s coffee and toilet facilities.
So the Gregg’s part has gone, and if they do eventually close up completely like everywhere else, wiith the toilets locked, it’s going to he a bit of a pain from a tramper’s point of view…literally.It’s an interesting question. I would expect the washing and toilet facilities would stay open as I understand there is legislation governing that side of things, but as for the restaurant, shop, eateries and coffee bars, who knows? Have the Costa’s and McDonald’s closed in them today in-line with their high street closures? That would perhaps provide some clues. Do the MSA staff come under “key workers” or not? If not then there would be no-one to staff them and so they’d have to close. I guess if you’re doing tramping that you should leave yourself time to divert to a supermarket to pick up supplies and use their facilities, or take enough food with you from home to last the week?
Yeh I’m hoping the toilets and showers are staying open, toilets for obvious reasons,.and the nature of my job, means few of the places I go to have shower facilities.
I always take plenty of food with me, so supermarket use is not a problem, unless I run out.Maccys, Gregg’s and the like have shut down yeh, with the staff obviously gone, so the only requirement would be a security type team to man the open site for crime prevention and to keep an eye on the toilets for vandalism and the like.
Whether they will or not remains to be seen, but not sure if it’s a legal requirement or not, I’d like to think so though.What’s still open in them currently? Is it just the bogs/showers/petrol and main shop, or is the main shop closed as well?
The cynical side of me tells me that even in the event of an apocalypse they’d still stay open… but not out of a duty of care - no no, but just to ensure they get their £30 a pop from those pesky truckers clogging the place up.
I don’t start my shift pattern until Wednesday, and last time I worked, Saturday, it was obviously all open, so I ain’t sure at the moment until I start back in.
I’d agree that they ain’t going to pass up the extortionate parking charges, but surely they’ll even be revised now, you would think, concerning the voucher part of it, seeing as the restaurants (term used very loosely 
) are now closed.
robroy:
I don’t start my shift pattern until Wednesday, and last time I worked, Saturday, it was obviously all open, so I ain’t sure at the moment until I start back in.I’d agree that they ain’t going to pass up the extortionate parking charges, but surely they’ll even be revised now, you would think, concerning the voucher part of it, seeing as the restaurants (term used very loosely
It’s been a very long time since I did night outs but they used to have 2 different vouchers available : one with a meal voucher and one without, which would obviously solve that problem. Is that no longer the case?
R420:
robroy:
I don’t start my shift pattern until Wednesday, and last time I worked, Saturday, it was obviously all open, so I ain’t sure at the moment until I start back in.I’d agree that they ain’t going to pass up the extortionate parking charges, but surely they’ll even be revised now, you would think, concerning the voucher part of it, seeing as the restaurants (term used very loosely
It’s been a very long time since I did night outs but they used to have 2 different vouchers available : one with a meal voucher and one without, which would obviously solve that problem. Is that no longer the case?
I don’t use them for overnight parking, so I ain’t sure tbh.
I suppose one good to come from this lockdown for you guys out on the roads is that you’ll have them pretty much to yourselves. All the way down the M6, M1 and round the M25 at 8am tomorrow without even coming off the limiter? 
toonsy:
Aren’t they legislated to be open all the time? I can see them being classed as part of key infrastructure tbh.
Yes but I guess in a time like this they could bring in emergency temporary legislation to override that and close them. Can’t see how that would benefit though because it means that drivers will be ■■■■■■■ and ■■■■■■■■ everywhere more than they already do which is of course worse for overall hygiene. So can’t see it happening MSA management will just have to implement stricter more regular cleaning.
R420:
I suppose one good to come from this lockdown for you guys out on the roads is that you’ll have them pretty much to yourselves. All the way down the M6, M1 and round the M25 at 8am tomorrow without even coming off the limiter?
Been like that for a couple of weeks. I got from High Wycombe, down the M40, round the M25 and up the M1 to the yard a J18 in 1h 30m the other day
Roadchef have come back to me saying they are staying open to provide facilities for road users.
Further info can be found here
roadchef.com/coronavirus
I’m still waiting for Moto and Welcome Break to answer.
Yesterday The Red Lion said they were staying open but only serving food through the window opposite the fuel pumps. They said the showers/toilets will be staying open as well. There was a strong smell of bleach when I used the showers yesterday morning and the bloke cleaning them seemed to be doing a good job. They did say ring ahead to make sure they are still open.
Durham services , Costa and WHS Smith open as of dinner time Tuesday 24th
Fleet M3…
Southbound currently has no fuel.