Conference terri::cars_uk

I'm not sure what you're point is here. There are plenty
of service stations along the major motorways for people
including truckers to stop at. The M40 doesn't have one, 
but then it doesn't take very long to drive the entire 
length of the M40 anyway.

I agree however that more rest areas are needed, so long 
we don't get those French style toilets.


	Ian

	This is not a problem for me now, but with small kiddies in
	the back (ie < 2 years old) the need to stop every so often
	increases, specially if they're just into potty training.
	they have "rest" stops every so many miles in the States, one
	I went into in New Hampshire was a log cabin with a fire and
	a nice old buffer who gave me lots of handy tips...

	Dave

>including truckers to stop at. The M40 doesn't have one, 
>but then it doesn't take very long to drive the entire 
>length of the M40 anyway.

If you travel the route from the channel ports (M20?) clockwise on the M25 then 
up the length of the M40....you won't find a single service station...

I don't call that a "doesn't take very long"...route !

    According to the programme (Top Gear) it's almost 200 miles from Dover
    to the end of the M40, and NOT ONE SERVICE STATION (clockwise M25). On
    the continent, there are proper rest areas every 20 miles or so. The
    line that they are dangerous for lone females is complete bollocks.
    
    Laurie.

SNAP !

Mind you, if you are travelling from Dover, etc, to the M40, then you
would go anti-clockwise round the M25, and you'd find a nice, shiny, new
(well, OK, new-ish) service station at the M25/A1(M) junction.

Oh, and you'd also save about an hour, and sixty miles or so.

Of course, you could also go up the M1/M6, which has lots of service
areas, as it is an old motorway. 

Peter.

    
    'Artic drivers are more inclined to go ;
    
    A2,M2,Detling-Bypass,M20,M26,M25,M40,M42,M5,M6 
    
    when driving from Dover to the North-west (shortest/fastest/cheapest). 
    As mentioned earlier, there's bugger-all in the way of en-route nap
    stops until you get on the M5 at Brum.
    
    
    Nev.

    re .0
    
    What problem?  But then, I'm from Australia where we drive genuinely
    long distances.  Driving in the UK impressed me with how quickly one
    gets from A to B...

    
    >re .0
    >What problem?  But then, I'm from Australia where we drive genuinely
    >long distances.  Driving in the UK impressed me with how quickly one
    >gets from A to B...

   
    The point is if you wanna a wee you just can't stop on the hard shoulder 
    off the M4 but in the outback who's going to complain.

Dave (Who_was_caught_out_on_the_A327_recently)		

    ... When does your case come up, Dave ?

>  ... When does your case come up, Dave ?


Alice Springs courthouse. :-)

Re the TOP GEAR article.

 But they forgot to say that later this year a new M25 Service Area will be 
opening between Godstone and Sevenoaks. ! and that a further service area is
going to be build soon adjacent to the M4/M25 Junction.

As for the M40, well as a previous note says, the A34 fast food sellers seem
to be doing a bomb. Other filling stations & pubs are signposted/advertised at
various junctions off the M40.

A similar article was broadcast on the Radio 4 prog GOING PLACES at 6:30 pm last
friday.

I know what it is to fall asleep whilst in control of a vehicle. I had the 
misfortune to fall asleep at 5:30 am whilst going round a roundabout in Putney
after travelling down from Glasgow stopping only to fill up with petrol. This
was in 1973 and I was riding a motorbike. So it doesn't only happen to car/truck
drivers. I was lucky, as I only knocked myself out and broke my wrist.

Stephen D

    Junction 10 (M40) now has a service area (albeit temp, a big Tent!)
    advertising FREE coffee. 
    

    Isn't this the Police thing, with messages about Drivers fatigue?
    
    Mikef

	I dropped in Thursday night (I thought that it was an April fools thing).  Yep, there
	it was, long queues...

	Dave

Yes, I heard about the Police thing on the M40. Did anyone
out that way stop and see what was going on? I heard they were
doing tiredness tests and such like.


	Ian

    
    Typical (more tales of modern motoring)...
    
    I decided to take the motorway yesterday afternoon for the trek from
    Yorkshire to Portsmouth rather than the cross country A43/M40/A34
    route 'cos I just knew Newbury would be snarled up.
    
    Bad mistake.
    
    Everything was going swimmingly until I made the decision at the
    services/A43 junction.  Ten minutes later I was sat in a 3 mile jam
    whilst some bloke who'd unfortunately parked his Alfa the wrong way
    round in the middle lane tried to sort his act out (plus the myriad of
    other accidents helped into being by this).
    
    So, having negotiated this situation what else could go wrong - how
    about another traffic jam (several miles also), and another one, and
    another one.  I wouldn't mind, but the stupid woman (no sexism here,
    she *was* female!) in the Renault 25 in the outside lane next to me
    decided to give the world a demonstration of just how bad her driving
    and non-anti-lock brakes were - cue plumes of white smoke pouring from
    the wheels.  Of course, she couldn't have been pointing straight when
    it happened; no, that would have been too simple (cue Chris taking
    avoiding action into the inside lane and being scared ****-less in the
    process).
    
    What else could go wrong...well, very little.  But the final straw came
    when there was a bit of slow moving traffic coming up (5 miles away
    maybe) to the M1/M25 interchange.  Some biker who had passed earlier
    had lost his rucksack which was now marooned (contents liberally
    sprayed across the carriageways) in the middle of six/seven lanes.  The
    poor sod just sat at the junction watching his portable radio et al get
    mashed by the 40 tonners.  Worst thing was his bike's logo - "Lucky
    Charm"...
    
    I think I'll take the train next time.
    
    Chris.

    re .17
    
    Chris, I learnt years ago (4 or 5) to avoid the M1 south of Loughbrough
    on Sun/Mon and Fri. Its a complete dog of a route. Also the M40 east of
    Oxford gets progressively more congested. 
    
    If I had to avoid Newbury, then I'd cut across from Oxford to Theale, a
    quick whizz down the M4 to the A33 and then south to Blasingsmoke and
    the M3.
    
    Clive

    Chris
    
    Real sorry to hear about all the hassle you had with the journey.
    
    I wonder if this is a typical scenario of such a trip on a Sunday.
    
    Personally for long jouneys at a weekend I prefer to lose a bit of
    sleep and travel very early in the morning or late in the evening to
    avoid this sort of problem.
    
    Royston

    
    It's a journey I've been doing for years, but it just seems to get
    worse - I took the reverse motorway route on Saturday and it was fine; 
    typical Friday/Sunday problems I encountered yesterday I suppose.
    
    Failing mechanical problems, each and every situation appears to be
    caused by people driving too close and trying to get that five metres
    further on than the car in front has got.  The ripple effect then takes
    hold and before you know it there're cars with speed differentials of
    80/90mph in the outside lane and the ensuing chaos.
    
    
    Chris.

    re .25,
    
    It would have been dammed if you did and dammed if you didn't
    yesterday afternoon!
    
    The M40 south was fine from Warwick down to J11, then stop-start 
    all the way to J10 (the A43 turnoff, when it seemed to stop completely.
    
    No sign of anything causing the hold ups (nor anyone willing to talk
    about it on the CB - where are those truckers when you need them 
    most :-)
    
    I slipped around the old B430 (the ex A34) down to the (new) A34
    and almost immediatly hit another tail back.  It was a car parked
    in the nearside lane with bollards.  If someone managed to put the
    bollards out,  why the h*ll couldn't they have bounced it off the road
    (there was a lot of empty grass!)   
    
    
    Sundays - where would drivers be without them?
    
    Jc 
    
    

    I always found a 5:00am start on the monday morning was quite
    effective. The alternative was a 10:30pm departure on the sunday night.
    I never set off on a sunday afternoon because it was just too much
    hassle.
    
    Clive

    Chris.
    
    Similar route to yours....bloody buggery nightmare.  Know how you
    feel.
    
    The latest is the M1 south, near junction 21.  3 lanes go into 2.
    As per usual everyone ignores the signs which basically say "3
    lanes merge into 2, merge now and don't be selfish to ensure a speedy
    trouble free journey".  
    
    There I am (with the majority) sat in the 1st or 2nd lane while smart
    gits burn down the 3rd lane and cut in, causing major tail backs.
    
    Oh well.
    
    
    Chris.
    
      
    
     

I find that sunday afternoon motorwaying seems to be far worse than
the monday morning rush, for some reason.  Probably because sunday
seems to attract more drivers onto the roads who are completely clueless,
to put it kindly.

Chris.

    
    Long distance?
    
    Autobahns -> Zweibrucken. Autoroute Metz -> Le Mans.
    
    Getting on for 800 miles in about 10 hours (no hold ups, just nice easy
    80-100 mph cruising).
    
    Mark

    
    I know, I know...
    
    I've done the Austria-Stuttgart-Calais run in a day with no hassles,
    but the trip down from Yorkshire seems miles further even though it's
    about a 1000 less.
    
    Chris.

Motorways are for everyone else!  I avoid them like the plague.

I had to do a day trip from Basingstoke to Ipswich yesterday.  It would be a
very nice run up the A30 and the A12 if it were not for that "blot on the
landscape" called London in the middle.

I decided that I had no alternative than to use the northern half of the M25.  I
hate motorways.  I think it's the fact that when you pass a junction you have no
choice as to where you go until you reach the next one some miles on.  If
there's a traffic jam, then you have no option but to sit in it.

So, I set out at 8am.  I decided I couldn't bear the M3 to M40 section of the
M25, so I joined it from the M40.  We sailed round, stopping only once between
the M40 and the A12, and that only for a few seconds.  For once I could laugh at
all the other poor sods who were sitting in traffic queues going the other way.

Even the A12 was great - unlike the last twice that I've used it when on both
occassions there had been accidents.

I did Basingstoke to Ipswich in 3 hours - it's about 160 miles - which is not
bad going across rush hour.  (Yes, I know there'll be hundreds of you out there
who've done it faster!)


Coming back (starting at 3:30pm) was almost as good.  The M25 stopped about a
yard past the M40 exit - hahaha, I was going off up the M40!  There was a bit of
a queue between the M40 and Reading, but it moved reasonably.  I made it home in
3� hours.

I think this journey has gone a millimetre towards restoring my faith in
motorways.  Unfortunately, I suspect it was a freak, so I'll still use
non-motorway routes most of the time.

My favourite non-Motorway route is Basingstoke to north-east Birmingham.  120
miles in 1 hour and 55 minutes - even on bad runs it's rarely over 2 hours and a
quarter.  And I should say that I very rarely drive at more than 10 miles over
the speed limit.

T