By Kevin Challenger
Motorists are being forced to pay over the odds for petrol, food and drink at motorway service stations as they are ripped off by "greedy" retailers, a survey by What Car? magazine found.
With drivers already feeling the pinch from rising car insurance premiums, What Car? said it found one WH Smith motorway outlet charged 91 per cent more for a 750ml bottle of water compared to its high street outlets.
Marks & Spencer also came under fire for charging "inflated prices" in its motorway shops, including a 25 per cent increase on a bottle of water and 16 per cent on a sandwich, while Burger King was found to bump prices up by 12 per cent on the motorway compared to high street outlets.
With the soaring cost of petrol and diesel proving to be a huge burden for motorists and the haulage industry, the survey found that those filling up on a long motorway journey will pay an average levy of 5.2 per cent for unleaded fuel and 3.4 per cent for diesel.
This means that drivers who refuel at motorway services would pay an average of £77 more over the course of a year than they would if they filled up elsewhere.
What Car? editor-in-chief Steve Fowler said: "It is unforgivable for retailers to take advantage of motorists in such a brazen manner. The 5.2 per cent average motorway fuel mark-up is hard for consumers to fund, and a 91 per cent mark-up on a bottle of water is unacceptable. We suggest that all motorway users plan their journeys carefully and try to avoid using such greedy retailers."
