I drive an EV & stopped at UK’s worst service station – there’s ONE charging point for non-Teslas & no space to queue
AN EV driver has slammed the UK’s worst service station over a lack of charging points for non-Tesla drivers and space to queue.
Hartshead Moor East has been voted the least popular motorway services out of 120 analysed, according to a survey of more than 30,000 visitors by watchdog Transport Focus.
The Welcome Break-owned site on the M62 near Huddersfield received an overall satisfaction rating of just 84 per cent.
Retired Elaine and Richard Oblast from Cornwall stopped to charge their motor but said they had difficulty in navigating their way to the charging points due to a lack of signage.
Elaine, 67, said: "It is not sign-posted at all - we couldn't find the charging point - there needs to be proper sign posts. We have been to a lot of services and the bar is set very low."
The charging point has a row purely for Tesla cars, but only two for other vehicles - one of which customers said appeared to not be working.
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Richard, 68, added: "Having two charges off a main motorway is not enough - there needs to be more if the country wants to get to 100 per cent electric.
"There is not much space for the cars. It is not very open so there is nowhere to queue, so if there is a queue of cars on a busy day they will all be backed up while people are waiting."
Bobby Greasley, 40, a Regional Manager, drives a Tesla and found there were plenty of chargers in place for his motor at the service station - but not much for any other motorists.
And he too lamented the lack of signage - saying the charging point was not well signed.
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He said: "I do around 25,000 miles a year and the Tesla is a company car. If you are not a Tesla driver it's really bad because there is only one regular one."
Business Consultant Steve Piper, 63, from Wakefield said: "I only use this service station for limited use.
“I have only been once or twice in the last 12 months to use the public conveniences, coffee shop and charging and it does look a bit run down.
"That said, it may be run down - but it is still very expensive. I can see why it has been voted the way it has."
Another motorist from Manchester said he was disgruntled with having to pay £15 to avoid a £100 fine, having parked just a few minutes more than the free two hours.
He said: "I know why they do it - to stop people leaving their cars here.
"But if you want to charge your car, have some food and if you have babies with you who might need changing and so on - a couple of hours can fly by."
James and Rachel Rich, both 53, from Shropshire said they found the food outlets limited in the services.
James said: "We just stopped to use the bathroom, which was clean.
"The food and drink facilities were limited - there was nothing there for us, just a Burger King, Greggs and a Smiths and so on and you had to go across the bridge to go to Waitrose."
But it wasn't all doom and gloom, with customers praising the new public conveniences.
Richard Dukes, 43, a regional sales manager for Cross Rental Services in Sheffield said: "I went to the loo and it was really nice. What more do you want? It's got a WH Smith, Burger King and the toilets were nice and clean."
Nick Dent, 52, from Beverley, said: "It was fine. The toilets were clean. To me it's just a service station and I don't expect them to be great. They didn't strike me as anything bad."
Transport Focus said in its report: “The MSA (motorway service area) has invested in new toilet facilities but, unfortunately, the works were still underway during the survey period and, for some of the time, had portable toilets in place.
“Despite the building works, the site’s overall satisfaction score has improved by four percentage points, which suggests that there is every reason to expect an improved position in next year’s survey.”
The survey took place between May 17 and July 11.
The joint-second worst services were Bridgwater (on the M5 in Somerset), Hartshead Moor West, Lancaster South (on the M6 in Lancashire) and Toddington North and South (both on the M1 in Bedfordshire).
They each received a score of 88 per cent.
Top of the ranking was Moto’s Rugby services on the M6 in Warwickshire for a second consecutive year.
It was the only location to score 100 per cent.
The services were scored highly for food and drink, toilets and friendly staff.
A spokesperson for Welcome Break told The Sun Online: "We are disappointed to see Hartshead Moor at the bottom of the list but are incredibly proud of the improvements that Welcome Break has made since last year, with overall satisfaction for Welcome Break increasing by 3 per cent to 94 per cent and toilet satisfaction increasing by 6 per cent to 91 per cent.
"During the time of the survey, Hartshead Moor was undergoing improvements and there were temporary toilet facilities in place.
"We’re now very pleased to say that the site has opened brand new toilets on both sides of the M62, with two new baby changing units, two new accessible toilets and added HGV shower facilities.
"Therefore, we expect to see a considerable improvement in scores for Hartshead Moor in next year’s survey."
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Elsewhere, another EV owner has shared her top tips on driving an electric car for first time buyers.
And a man who drove a £1.2million EV has claimed it was heavy to drive and takes an age to charge.
