| Donington Park | |
| Moto | |
 | |
| Road: | M1 J23a northbound and J24 southbound (also accessible to traffic on the A42 and the A453, not far from the A6 and the A50) |
| Address: | Moto Services Junction 23a M1 Castle Donington Derby Derbyshire DE74 2TN |
| Telephone number: | 01509 672220 |
| Signposted from the road? | As Burger King/Costa/M&S |
| Opened: | 1999 |
| Previous operators: | Granada |
| Grid reference: | SK467252 |
| Services type: | Single site located at a junction. |
| Visit Donington Park/Moto's official website Facebook Page | |
One large services catering for many roads at once. They are located at M1 J23a but the junction has no north-facing sliproads, so traffic heading to/from the M1 north has to leave at J24 and use the parallel A453. It forms a gateway to The National Forest, and as such it has information boards and viewpoints round the back by the lake.
Contents |
Facilities
General: Children's Play Area, Local Information, Truck Wash, Lucky Coin, Moto Meetings, Moto Free WiFi, Picnic Area, Showers
Restaurants: Burger King, Costa, Harvester
Shops: Fone Bitz, Ladbrokes, M&S Simply Food, WHSmith (with Costa Express Krispy Kreme), Cotton Traders
Fuel: BP (with: Costa Express Krispy Kreme Air1 AdBlue LPG)
Motel: Travelodge[book rooms]
Parking Prices
First two hours free for all vehicles, after which cars must pay £11 and HGVs £18.50, or £20 to include a £9 food voucher.
Prices are paid using PayByPhone - more details. The location code is 2435.
The fees are strictly enforced by CP Plus.
Trivia
Donington Park (commonly misspelt 'Donnington Park') was one of the first sites to gain a Marks and Spencers - at its time it was the smallest in the world, but it was then extended and rebranded to M&S Simply Food. It was built where the Burger King was, and the Burger King was moved. A WHSmith store also opened here, replacing Birthdays and the Moto Shop.
When it first opened the forecourt had a dry cleaning and a photo development service, allowing commuters to stop by on the way to and from work.
The services consider themselves to be the gateway to the National Forest, and at the back by the lake there are information boards and viewing platforms. The services appear to be the only one of their kind where a hotel is built-in to the main building: some have access to the motel through the building, but few have the motel as a second storey.
On the 25th April 2008 Greg James presented BBC Radio 1's Early Morning Breakfast Show (4-7am) live from the services.
In 1989, before the A42 was built, a much smaller service area was proposed in the north-east corner of the roundabout.
On 21st May 2013, Harvester opened here on a trial basis. If it is successful, Moto plan to role out Harvester across there network to replace Eat & Drink Co..
Survey Results
In May 2012 and August 2011, Visit England rated the services as 3 stars and said it had a lot of sockets for business users. It also came top for rural access due to its proximity to the National Forest.
In 2006 the services won a four star loo award and were graded 3/5 by Holiday Which?.
Alternatives
| Previous: | Next: | |
| Markfield (9 miles) Leicester Forest East (16 miles) | Services on the M1 | Trowell (11 miles) |
| Ashby-de-la-Zouch (9 miles) Tamworth (M42, 21 miles) | Services on the A42 | end of road |
| Tamworth (M42, 21 miles) | Moto services | Trowell (11 miles) |
With thanks to the users 'Ziathon', 'alex' and Alan Simpson for the information used on this page.