HIGHWAY ROBBERY!
We knew petrol was more expensive at motorway service stations. But we reveal everything else costs up to 70% more too
With petrol prices reaching their highest level in nearly four years, motorists are feeling the pinch. According to the AA, the UK average unleaded price rose to 129.5p a litre earlier this month — the most expensive since August 2014.
if you travel by motorway, and don’t fill up before you hit the main road, it’s likely to be even worse. service stations’ price mark-ups on fuel are so bad that Transport secretary chris Grayling has promised to launch a probe into the practice.
But that’s not the end of it. The prices that service stations charge for everything from a cup of coffee (£3.49) to a pack of biscuits (£2.29) can be staggering.
To investigate the premiums motorists pay, the Mail visited Watford Gap services in northamptonshire, Britain’s first service station. situated between junction 16 and 17 of the M1, shortly before the motorway joins the M6, it opened in 1959.
We compared prices at the four main operators there — BP, Whsmith, costa coffee and McDonald’s — with branches of the same companies in the nearest town, Rugby, which is less than ten miles away.
All the operators say any discrepancy in pricing at Watford Gap reflects the higher costs, especially rent, of operating out of a 24-hour service station.
But while most people would expect to pay a bit more for the convenience of being able to buy a hot meal, warm drink or bar of chocolate on the M1, some of the motorway mark-ups are turbocharged.
BP
The BP garage on lawford Road, at the western edge of Rugby and less than ten miles from Watford Gap, is open 24 hours a day. it has a shop, run by londis, and there’s a sit- down subway sandwich restaurant and a costa coffee machine.
BP says that the lawford Road branch is operated as a ‘dealer site’, not by BP directly, so it does not set the (typically lower) prices found there.
The BP station at Watford Gap offers a shop with warm pasties, pies and sausage rolls as well as coffee from the Wild Bean cafe (a cappuccino is £2.45).
BP UNLEADED, 1 LITRE
Lawford Road, Rugby: 127.9p Watford Gap: 145.9p PRICE INCREASE: 14.1 pc in May, British motorists faced the sharpest rise in petrol prices for 18 months. in April a litre of unleaded was 121.5p on average. it’s now 129.5p, but you’ll pay much more at the services.
BP DIESEL, 1 LITRE
Rugby: 131.9p Watford Gap: 148.9p PRICE INCREASE: 12.9 pc The premium for diesel is not quite as sharp, but it’s still pretty steep. At the Rugby Asda superstore, diesel was cheaper at 127.7p a litre.
MCVITIE’S DIGESTIVES (400g)
Rugby: £1.29 Watford Gap: £2.29 PRICE INCREASE: 77.5 pc Mcvitie’s has been shrinking its products, removing seven biscuits from (what was) a 500g pack. sadly, BP has not shrunk the price at Watford Gap, where they are £1 more expensive.
KINGSMILL SOFT WHITE BREAD (800g)
Rugby: £1.20 Watford Gap: £2.05 PRICE INCREASE: 70.8 pc Major supermarkets charge £1 for this loaf. The BP garage in Rugby charges a premium — since it’s open 24 hours a day — and the mark-up at Watford Gap is eye-watering.
ALWAYS ULTRA SANITARY PADS x16
Rugby: £2.29 Watford Gap: £3.29 PRICE INCREASE: 43.7 pc THERE is 5 per cent VAT on sanitary products — but the government will be free to ditch it after Brexit. even then, you’ll pay a hefty premium to buy them at the roadside.
MILK, SEMISKIMMED 1PT
Rugby: 69p Watford Gap: 95p PRICE INCREASE: 37.7 pc PETROL stations are the goto place for an emergency pinta, so it’s unsurprising you’ll pay extra on the supermarket price of 50p. But it is nearly double that at Watford Gap.
WHSMITH
THERE’s a large high-street Whsmith on Rugby’s Market Place, with magazines and books including a good children’s section. The gift and snack choice is almost non-existent.
The book section at the Whsmith in Watford Gap is small, though it does sell the hardback Watford Gap: The First Motorway service station. The confectionery and snack section is substantial and there are gifts and toys for bored children.
Whsmith pointed out that its Watford Gap branch was run as a franchise by the service station’s main tenant, Roadchef.
WHSMITH BROWN PARCEL TAPE, 66m
Market Place, Rugby: £2.49 Watford Gap: £3.56 PRICE INCREASE: 43 pc in some cases, such as with
a single black Bic biro, the mark - up on essential stationery in W atford Gap is not outrageous — between 10 and 11 per cent — but this is far more substantial.
LEGO NINJAGO MINIFIGURE
Rugby: £2.99 Watford Gap: £3.99 PRICE INCREASE: 33.4 pc Minifigures have been a huge hit for Lego. You get a small packet containing a mystery Lego person, which encourages you to buy lots so you can get a complete set of characters. At launch eight years ago, they cost £2 a pack.
POST-IT NOTES, 2x 100
Rugby: £3.99 Watford Gap: £4.99 PRICE INCREASE: 25.1 pc rushing to a meeting at a business park off the M1? Desperately need Post-its to bring your presentation to life? Whsmith at Watford Gap has it covered. But you ’ll pay £1 extra for the privilege.
WISPA BAR, 36g
Rugby: 79p Watford Gap: 99p PRICE INCREASE: 25.3 pc Who remembers when the W ispa bar was launched in 1981? Back then, it cost 16p. if the price had risen in line with inflation it would now set you back just 58p.
McDONALD’S
The two - storey McDonald’s in rugby, on the site of the former Wine Barrel pub, is on the pedestrianised Market Place about nine miles from Watford Gap.
on the Monday afternoon that the Mail visited, many of its customers were mothers coming with their children for tea.
McDonald’s at the southbound Watford Gap is the main eating option, far larger than the fresh food Cafe or the Costa Coffee.
FLAT WHITE
Market Place, Rugby: £1.39 Watford Gap: £1.89 PRICE INCREASE: 36 pc quite a bit of the food is no more expensive at Watford Gap than at a high street McDonald’s. But coffee is one of the areas where tired motorway drivers are gouged. even tea has a 20 per cent mark-up.
HAPPY MEAL WITH HAMBURGER
Rugby: £2.49 Watford Gap: £2.99 PRICE INCREASE: 20.1 pc how many parents on a long journey have thrown healthy eating out of the window? it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that McDonald’s appears to take advantage of pester power to levy a premium on food for kids. A happy Meal comes with either small fries, fruit or carrot sticks, and a drink.
CHICKEN NUGGETS 20-PIECE SHARE BOX
Rugby: £4.19 Watford Gap: £4.89 PRICE INCREASE: 16.7 pc There are very few individual items at McDonald’s that cost more than £4. This is one of them: 863 calories of battered chicken. if you choose this at Watford Gap, expect to pay a 70p premium.
BIG MAC
Rugby: £2.99 Watford Gap: £3.19 PRICE INCREASE: 6.7 pc The most famous McDonald’s burger, the 508- calorie Big Mac — two beef patties, with a bun in the middle, cheese, pickles and lettuce — is nearly always sold for £3. unsurprisingly, it is above that benchmark at the side of the M1.
COSTA COFFEE
Many drivers would struggle to be enthusiastic about Watford Gap services. But Costa, Britain ’s biggest chain of coffee shops, controls arguably its nicest corner — an area with big windows, armchairs and the morning’s newspapers. The one on r ugby high street is fairly typical, with a narrow shop front and an interior that stretches deep into the outlet.
PEPSI, 500ml
High Street, Rugby: £1.55 Watford Gap: £2.29 PRICE INCREASE: 47.7 pc PEPSI, like all other sugary drinks, is subject to the new sugar tax. A half-litre of P epsi costs 12p more than before April — but that doesn’t affect the mark-up at Watford Gap as the levy’s applied regardless of where you buy it.
LARGE AMERICANO
High Street, Rugby: £2.60 Watford Gap: £3.49 PRICE INCREASE: 34.2 pc An Americano is one of the highest-margin products a coffee shop sells. it makes the 90p mark - up in Watford Gap rather galling.
FLAT WHITE
Rugby: £2.60 Watford Gap: £3.49 PRICE INCREASE: 34.2 pc This may not cost as much as a flat white at The savoy , which charges £6, but for £3.49 i’d expect a nicer view than a big car park.
TYRRELL’S SALT AND VINEGAR CRISPS, 40g
Rugby: £1.00 Watford Gap: £1.29 PRICE INCREASE: 29 pc A pack of these upmarket crisps usually costs about 75p from a supermarket. There’s a mark -up on Costa ’s food of about 20 to 30 per cent at Watford Gap.
MILLIONAIRE’S SHORTBREAD
Rugby: £1.95 Watford Gap: £2.49 PRICE DIFFERENCE: 27.7 pc A 396- calorie slab of shortbread coated in caramel and topped with chocolate. At the r ugby high st branch (as at all Costa sit- down branches) most of the food is given two prices — a takeaway price (excluding VAT) and an eat-in price. if you bought this to take away at the r ugby Costa it would cost you just £1.65, making the Watford Gap premium 51 per cent.