England v France

Having driven over 2000 miles in France over the past three weeks, I feel well qualified to comment on the experience of driving there compared to England.

Ok - much of the driving was on the toll roads so it wasn't free motoring, but even the non-peage roads were well equipped with stopping areas, picnics places and good food and cups of coffee that didn't taste as though it came from a machine, even when it did.

The more I think about it the more I felt sorry for lorry drivers in the UK. How are they supposed to have regular breaks etc when you can drive miles on our motorways with rarely a stopping place?

We came off Eurotunnel and decided to stop for a coffee at the VERY new service area just outside Folkestone. Shiny new (you could still smell the wet paint) with keen staff looking for customers to try out their new coffee making skills on, it looked great - if a little empty. To make the most of the sunny weather (and to avoid paying some VAT) we decided to have our coffee and sandwich "take-away".

Could we find a picnic table anywhere? No....and the wooden rails around the building were even shaped to a point to discourage sitters.

PLEASE can we get our act together and provide the facilites on our roads that drivers want? Especially when you consider the stories today about motorway delays....