Families are buying fuel cheaply before they set off for holidays rather than paying more at motorway filling stations, a new survey has found.
The study of more than 1000 drivers found that almost all said the cost of filling up their cars or camper vans with petrol or diesel at motorway stops was too much. More than half of those questioned admitted they always bought their fuel more cheaply before setting off on their journeys.
The poll, by Viewsbank, comes as thousands of families set off over the weekend at the start of the Scottish school summer holidays to stay with friends, relatives or to travel to other destinations across the UK and Europe.
The poll also showed that 28 per cent of drivers always fill up before going on a motorway.
It found that 5 per cent of those questioned always leave the motorway to find cheaper fuel elsewhere rather than fill up at service stations.
A further 27 per cent will only fill up on the motorway if they are almost out of fuel, with 84 per cent saying the high price of petrol and diesel puts them off buying anything else from motorway service stations.
However, the poll also revealed that 35 per cent of motorists use motorway service stations at least once a month. Just over 10 per cent using them at least once a week.
Drivers are most likely to use service stations for going to the toilet and stretching their legs.
More than 30 per cent who stop eat their own food but 24 per cent do eat at restaurants. Although drivers are recommended to take breaks every two or three hours, 32 per cent of those polled will drive for more than that, while 9 per cent will drive for four hours or more before stopping.
David Black of Viewsbank said: "Motorway service stations definitely provide an important service and millions of motorists use them. But the research shows they are not winning many friends.
"Customers are convinced they are paying too much and only use them because they don't have a choice."
Not only fuel makes motorway driving expensive, surveys find food and snacks at service stations are more expensive that those in the high street or supermarkets.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article