Motorway services - disabled toilets

[Mammyofonlyone]

I'm looking for advice for a friend. She is hoping to travel to and from the south east from the North of England this summer by car with her elderly father.

He has extremely limited mobility in terms of how far he can walk, and using a wheelchair is not an option. He also has to take medication which means he needs to use the toilet quite frequently.

He is worried about walking to the toilet at motorway services, even when using the disabled parking spaces.

As I have thought about it I realized that in some service stations the toilets are close to the entrance whereas others are at the back. I wondered if anyone knew of any websites/resources that they could use to work out which services would have 'closer' toilets to help them plan their trip.

This is likely to be their last full family holiday due to her dads health so would like to see if I can help plan it.

TIA for any pointers you can give.

You would need to say which route they are taking. The M1 has far more service stations than the A1. None of the M1 service stations toilets are that far from the entrance.

You could try looking in the Access Able website - it tells you how accessible various places are. Downside is I think you have to look for an individual place rather than a general 'service stations on the M4'... https://www.accessable.co.uk/

www.accessable.co.uk/moto/m1-donington-park-services-moto/access-guides/m1-donington-park-services-moto-toilet-facilities

This website is clunky but you can get past the tiresome video tours to a list of facilities and locations.

I would bet on the newer services being better laid out but it's not universal. Donington Park, Leeds Skelton, Tibshelf for example. IIRC Northampton are quite near the doors.

Services on A roads aren't very good, so I would try to stick to M roads as much as possible. They're more frequent, bigger, better parking spaces and tend to me much more modern.

Don't forget there are lots of "rest areas" just off the motorway now which are a fuel station with a McDonald's/Subway/Starbucks bolted on which all have modern toilets and generally smaller /accessible buildings. For instance Markham Vale maps.app.goo.gl/gATNwcfGjn1ZfMRm8

also check if the petrol station at the services has a toilet - you can usually park closer to the door and they're quieter than the main services building.

Thanks everyone, that's just the type of info I was hoping to be able to give her.

The services are plentiful on the m1 but get very busy in summer. Toilets are not close to the door in my experience

I agree about petrol station with shops. You can come closer and the distance is naturally smaller. However you have to be sure that they have accessible toilet ( they usually do but…)
Some motor services might have building works. We were in this situation last year - toilet was long way around the building.
She can google “services between A and B” and then have a look a services websites ( some of them have ones) and maybe give them a phone call to check.

The accessable website is very good but I agree that you'd be much better off going to the petrol station and using the toilets there.

Pretty much every one I have ever been to had the toilets at the back. It's done on purpose so that people need to walk through.

If you know the route, you could try phoning or emailing National Highways as they may have the information or if they didn't have it there and then, should be able to find it out for you.

Might be worth getting a TravelJohn or something like that. You can never rely on a toilet being available when you need one.

Grantham North services at Gonerby Moor Junction on the A1 has toilets right next to the entrance. You can access the services whether you are going north or south. It's not particularly modern but it's OK.

A lot of services have a drive through Starbucks now, and they always have parking right outside and a loo, so that is probably the nearest to a space toilet option

@CMOTDibbler that's a really good option, good idea