Moto Service Station

The M23 service station at Pease Pottage is one of the smallest motorway service stations in the country. Originally owned by Welcome Break, then Granada, it is now run by Moto.

The service station functions as the village’s corner shop (the new Woodgate Community Shop is not yet open for business). Unusually for a motorway service station, there is access for pedestrians, along a path to the south of the main building. Whether it is technically a motorway service station is debatable, since it is not actually on the motorway, and is directly accessible from the A23 and A264.

Location and Directions — Pease Pottage service station is a short distance from the M23
Facilities: Refreshments, Toilets, etc — shops, cafés, amenities
Opening Hours — parts of the service station are open 24 hours a day
Parking and Parking Fines — what to do if you are given a parking ‘fine’
Contacting the Service Station — occasionally, someone answers the phone
Insider Tip — other shops and petrol stations in the area
More Information — about the M23

Location and Directions

The Pease Pottage service station is at the southern end of the M23. A large roundabout links the M23, the A23, and a spur of the A264, as well as the local B2114 road into Pease Pottage village.

How to Find the Service Station

Unlike most service stations, the one at Pease Pottage is a short distance away from the motorway:

Leave the M23 at junction 11.
Get in the left-hand lane on the slip road.
At the top of the slip road, there is a set of traffic lights at the entrance to the large roundabout. You will see a prominent sign pointing left, toward the service station.
Take the first exit, which leads straight on.
Get in the right-hand lane.
A couple of hundred yards along, you will come to a roundabout.
Take the third exit (i.e. turn right) into the service station.

Entering and Leaving the Service Station

If you want to go to the shops and the main car and lorry park, stay in the lane you are in, which curves around to the left.
If you want to go to the petrol station, take the junction which leads straight on.

To return to the M23, take the first exit (i.e. turn left) on leaving the service station, and then get in the right-hand lane.

Moto Road Signs

Moto has its own system of signs within its service station grounds. Few of the signs follow the standard Highway Code system for warnings, prohibitions and positive instructions. In fact, many of Moto’s signs use the Highway Code’s visual clues in precisely the opposite way from their normal meanings. There is an amusing dissection of Moto’s bizarre signage system at http://www.cbrd.co.uk/indepth/motoservices/ (Update: the link is no longer live).

Facilities

The motorway service station at Pease Pottage contains:

several franchised eating establishments, which change from time to time (at the time of writing: Costa Coffee, Burger King, a cornish pasty kiosk, and a Greggs bakery);
a Marks and Spencer Simply Food shop: well-stocked and not too pricey, at least by Marks and Spencer’s standards;
a W H Smith, which sells mainly sweets, magazines, sweets, newspapers, sweets, crisps, sweets, and Krispy Kreme doughnuts;
toilets, including disabled access (via a RADAR key) and baby-changing facilities: small, but kept clean;
showers;
2 cash machines (ATMs): one in the main building that takes a small commission, and one by the petrol station that doesn’t;
slot machines, which usually take a large commission;
vending machines for sweets and soft drinks;
pay phones (hey, kids — ask your parents grandparetnts how to use these);
a free wireless internet connection;
a monitor screen showing traffic conditions on the M23 and M25;
a small outdoor picnic area and children’s playground;
some outside seating;
an information stand just inside the main entrance;
two charging points for electric cars, situated just to the side of the main building (to the right, in the photograph near the top of this page, and marked on the map above);
a branch of Autoglass windscreen repairs, to the left as you enter the car park;
and a separate petrol station where LPG fuel is available, and which incorporates a branch of Costa Coffee.

Despite the impression given by one of the motorway signs, there is no accommodation at Pease Pottage services, although lorry drivers may sleep in their cabs.

Opening Hours

By law, motorway service stations must provide food, fuel and toilets 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The Pease Pottage service station offers two options for the hungry overnight traveller:

Costa Coffee
W H Smith

The Marks and Spencer Simply Food shop at Pease Pottage is open from 07.00 to 22.00, and Burger King from 08.00 to about 23.00. Both are open 7 days a week.

Parking at the Moto Service Station, Pease Pottage

Note that at busy times it can be difficult to find a parking space. If the car park is full, or if you want to have a long snooze and don’t feel like paying Moto’s parking charge, use this interactive map to check out other parking areas in Pease Pottage. Parish Lane, Finches Field and Old Brighton Road South are all used by canny, sleepy, and cost-conscious drivers.

Disabled Parking

There are a few disabled parking bays close to the building’s entrance (behind the sign at the left of the photograph near the top of this page). Moto used to employ a man with a peaked cap to keep an eye on the car park, but he disappeared some time ago. It is uncommon to see a car using these bays that actually displays a disabled parking badge.

Cost of Parking

By law, parking is free at motorway service stations for the first two hours.

To stay longer than two hours, you will need to buy a ticket in advance that entitles you to 24 hours’ parking. The cost in 2022 is:

£15 for cars;
£31 for caravans and motor homes;
£31 for commercial vehicles (or £34 with a food voucher that entitles you to food up to the value of £10).

The prices and conditions of parking at Pease Pottage services change from time to time. Up-to-date information can be found at https://help.moto-way.com/knowledge/parking. If there is anything you are unsure about, please read that page and, if necessary, contact the Moto organisation: for details, see https://moto-way.com/help-and-support/contact-us/.

Buying a Ticket

There are four ways to buy a parking ticket for the Pease Pottage service station:

You may pay in person at one of the tills within the building, using cash or a card.
You may use a mobile phone and a credit or debit card. Phone 0330 400 7275 and follow the instructions, which are also printed on signs in the car park. There may be an extra charge involved.
Car drivers may pay online at https://m2.paybyphone.co.uk/parking (requires JavaScript). You will need to quote the service station’s location number, which is 2455. Again, an extra charge may be added to the cost of the parking ticket.
HGV drivers may also pay online, at https://snapacc.com/locations/site/13457/. The reference number to quote is 13457.

You will need to buy your parking ticket before the end of your two-hour free stay. It is not currently (in 2022) possible to buy a ticket before you arrive at the service station. Again, if you have any questions, please see https://moto-way.com/help-and-support/contact-us/.

HGV operators can set up an account with Moto to pay for visits to this and other Moto service stations. See https://help.moto-way.com/knowledge/am-i-able-to-open-an-account-for-parking-at-moto.

Threats of Parking Fines

Number plates are recorded by automatic cameras on entry to the car park. Signs warn that over-stayers will be issued with Parking Charge Notices and fined between £80 and £330.

Despite the impression given by the use of capital letters, Parking Charge Notices are merely commercial invoices issued by an unaccountable private company. They are not the same thing as Penalty Charge Notices, which are legally enforceable parking tickets issued by democratically accountable local authorities. In Pease Pottage, Penalty Charge Notices are administered by Mid Sussex District Council. Whereas Penalty Charge Notices are given for breaches of the Traffic Management Act of 2004 and other legislation, so-called ‘Parking Charge Notices’ are a purely civil matter.

No doubt Moto deeply regret any confusion caused by the name they have chosen for their invoices.

In Moto’s favour, it should be pointed out that:

Two hours is not an unreasonable amount of time to stretch your legs and have a bite to eat.
There are several signs in the car park which inform drivers of the conditions of parking.

On the other hand, it should also be pointed out that:

The two-hour window is a legal requirement, not the result of Moto’s generosity.
Resting places near motorways are a public good, and ought to be provided as a public service and not incorporate mechanisms to transfer wealth to the owners of unaccountable private companies.

Legal Status of Service Station Parking Fines

It is unclear whether Moto are entitled in law to demand any more than their 24-hour charge, although no doubt plenty of over-stayers do pay their official-looking ‘fines’. According to Which Legal Service:

In the case of parking tickets issued by private companies, it is not criminal law but contract law that applies. … if you over-stay at a car park then the land owner loses revenue. The penalty however may apply [ sic ] a fixed charge of between £60 and £100, but this does not mean that they are entitled to this under under [ sic ] the law of contract. They are only entitled to their actual losses as a result of your breach of contract. … Anything above and beyond the actual loss that they try to claim would be classified as a penalty and, under contract law, they are not entitled to recover that penalty. Thus when PPCs [private parking companies] charge £60-£1000 for what is a minimal loss on their part, the above regulations [the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999] will apply.

See the full article at http://www.whichlegalservice.co.uk/members-area/parking-advice/challenging-a-private-parking-ticket/.

For more about the legality of private companies trying to ‘fine’ people, see:

The Consumer Action Group’s website: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences/131148-parking-charge-notice.html
Money Saving Expert: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/parking-ticket-appeals/
This motorists’ forum: http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Invoices for parking charges are issued to the registered keeper of the vehicle whose number plate is scanned on entry to the car park. But any parking charges are owed not by the registered keeper but by the driver of the vehicle. It is up to the owner of a car park to prove the identity of the driver of the vehicle, which the owner of the car park generally cannot do unless the registered keeper discloses the information. In practice, it appears that if you completely ignore the invoices, they will go away (N.B. If you are thinking of doing this, please obtain proper legal advice first, just in case).

The money-grabbing aspect of the Pease Pottage service station car park is sub-contracted to an organisation called CP Plus.

Contacting the Service Station

None of the franchises at Pease Pottage service station are particularly easy to get hold of by phone or email. This may not be accidental.

Officially, the service station’s phone number is 01293 562852. We have heard stories of people who have tried ringing this number — whether to complain about a parking ‘fine’, to enquire about some lost property, or, in one case, to ask for CCTV or ANPR images to be supplied to the police after a theft — all without success.

If you need to contact the Pease Pottage service station and you find that no-one answers the phone, your best bet is to contact Moto’s head office on 01525 873933.

Insider Tip

For a wider selection of shops as well as toilets, adequate parking, and a petrol station, go to Broadfield in Crawley, just over one mile away. The petrol station in Broadfield, which is tucked away behind the shopping parade, is noticeably cheaper than the one at Pease Pottage services.

From the M23/A23 roundabout at junction 11, follow the signs for the A264 towards Horsham. At the first roundabout, take Tollgate Hill, the third exit (right) into Broadfield. Be aware that although Tollgate Hill looks like a 50- or 60-mph road, the limit is actually 30, and there are sometimes radar traps. At the first roundabout on this road, either

go straight on (Coachman’s Drive), then go over one more roundabout, and the shops are signposted about fifty yards along to your left, on Pelham Place;
or go left (Creasy’s Drive), then follow the road to a roundabout where you will see the shops on your right. Go straight on to reach the car park on Pelham Place.

More Information

There are no other service stations on the M23, but:

The next nearest services are on the A23 at Handcross, about two miles south of Pease Pottage. These services, which are accessible only from the A23 southbound, contain: a petrol station, a small shop, toilets, and a car wash. There is a similar set-up about six miles further south on the A23 at Hickstead.
The next nearest motorway service stations are at Clacket Lane on the M25 eastbound (i.e. anti-clockwise), about 22 miles away, and at Cobham on the M25 westbound (i.e. clockwise), about 38 miles away.
There are several petrol stations in Crawley. Apart from the one in Broadfield, the easiest to get to is probably the one on the A23 just beyond Cheals Garden Centre, about 3 miles to the north of Pease Pottage. The petrol station is on the southbound carriageway, so you’ll need to go on to the next roundabout, then double back.

The photograph gallery includes some pictures of the building of the Pease Pottage service station.

You can find out all about the very exciting history of the M23 at Chris Marshall’s informative and newly revamped https://www.roads.org.uk/ site.

Contact Details

website: www.moto-way.com/location/pease-pottage
email: no email
phone: 01293 562852 (branch) / 01525 873933 (head office)
address: Brighton Road, Pease Pottage, Sussex, RH11 9YA

See the Pease Pottage Area Directory »