Todhills

Todhills rest area
Moto
3 more photos in the gallery
Road:	M6 between J44 and J45
Address:	Moto Hospitality A74 Todhills Blackford Carlisle Cumbria CA6 4HA
Telephone number:	01228 674689
Signposted from the road?	Yes
Opened:	1980s (TRSA) 2008 (rest area)
Previous operators:	Trusthouse Forte, Granada
Grid reference:	NY373622
Services type:	Two sites located between junctions, with no public connection between them.

The first and currently the only of a new wave of rest areas, Todhills is basically a small service station that could be the gateway to a whole new form of services. Watch this space.

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Facilities

General: Wi-Fi
Restaurants: Costa Coffee
Shops: none
Fuel: Shell (northbound only) (pump types unknown), BP (southbound only) (pump types unknown)
Motel: Travelodge^{[book rooms]} (southbound only)

Parking Prices

First two hours free for all vehicles. Further information is not available, please update this if you know.

Trivia

Todhills was originally no more than a little service area on the A74 - the remnants of a dangerous and narrow dual carriageway linking the M6 from Birmingham to the M74 to Glasgow. When it was finally announced that the road would be upgraded to become part of the M6, it was originally thought that the services would have to be closed as the new road would be twice as wide as the old one and the services wouldn't meet motorway service area criteria.

Instead the sliproads to the services were simply upgraded and, by pure luck more than anything else, Todhills became the UK's first of a new breed of motorway rest area: a service station which doesn't necessarily provide food or fuel. At least when a similar situation happened a few miles up the road at Gretna 20 years ago they had the decency to rebuild the services.

Until 2008 Todhills had its own page on Moto's website, but this has now been removed and there is only a brief reference to it on their map.

In 2009 the services made local newspapers after they tried to sell alcohol on the basis that it's only a rest area (selling alcohol is already strictly illegal at motorway service areas), but the plans were dropped after the Highways Agency joined a list of people opposed to the plans.

The services are often referred to as 'Moss services'.

Survey Results

No information is currently available, please update this if you have any.

Alternatives

Comments and Reviews

Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums.
Author: Message: Richard Moss despite the previous comment about the HGV area caravaners are forced to use does anyone know if there is a charge for overnight parking and if so how much? Posted: 14 Aug 2010, 19:58 Lynn Hall On route to Scotland with caravan we pulled in. We had to park where HGV.s park. We were greeted by a driver from one urinating against a tree. The smell on leaving the car was awful. After getting back to the car with a coffee we were greeted by yet another driver urinating under his wagon. Along with the smell and the rubbish this rest area was disgusting. Stopping on the other side on return journey was no better. Posted: 08 Aug 2010, 19:39 Alexander I think Todhills is similar to a services on the continent, especially French autoroutes; a petrol station, parking and a café. The government should start rolling this type of services on motorways where services are a rarity(cough, cough, M25) where the space used is smaller and the price of development is cheaper. Posted: 08 Jul 2010, 16:11 Johnny Like what? All service stations provide 24 hour fuel... Posted: 31 Jul 2009, 17:40 Anonymous Why not give the information needed such as is the fuel station 24 hours! Posted: 30 Jul 2009, 21:38 Johnny OK, so the page was out of date, is everyone happy now? As for the link, I'm guessing it was meant to point to this not all-that blatant page. Posted: 21 Apr 2009, 15:51 Steve @Anonymous - thank you for linking to a picture of a button from the Moto website. Most informative. Posted: 21 Apr 2009, 13:36 Alan Thanks. We found it too but forgot to put the reference on this bit of the site. It's just weird that the "where to find us" part of the Moto website does not make reference to Todhills. I would have thought that Moto would have wanted people to know it was there and make it easier to access on the website. Posted: 21 Apr 2009, 09:20 Anonymous Todhills is still on the moto website - try looking and dont assume that its not! http://www.moto-way.com/wheretofindus/printable_map.gif Posted: 20 Apr 2009, 22:48 alex Yes, as the person before said - Johnny you need to update the page to include Costa. Posted: 17 Apr 2009, 18:12
Showing the most recent responses only: for the full thread and the ability to edit your own posts, you need to view the topic in the forums.

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With thanks to Gavin, Jonathan Elton and Harry for the information used on this page.