Motorway Breaks

A study on the access to toilets, accessible toilets, and showers along British motorways.

Most travellers will have an unpleasant memory of needing to go to the loo on a long car journey and having to hold on. For some people, like children and adults with incontinence / chronic issues, holding on can be especially uncomfortable.

According to recent estimates, the UK has lost half of its public toilets in the last decade. This is a general figure, but what happens when you focus on access to toilet facilities along the UK’s motorways?

We collected data on the toilet facilities across 57 UK motorways, including data on accessible toilets and showers too. We then found out how many toilet stops, accessible toilet stops and shower stops there were on average per mile, to rank the motorways by their access to facilities.

Key findings

• Two in five UK motorways (43.9%) have no listed toilet facilities
• The average motorway has toilet facilities every 24.1 miles
• Half (56.1%) of motorways have no accessible toilet stops
• You can expect to find an accessible toilet every 48.2 miles
• On average, it takes double the time (41 and a half minutes) to find accessible toilet facilities than standard toilet facilities (20 minutes and a half)
• Only four in ten (42.1%) of motorways have showering facilities
• You need to drive an average of 50.8 miles along a UK motorway to find a shower

The average motorway has toilet facilities every 24.1 miles

The UK average for toilet stops is one toilet stop per 0.041 miles. If toilet stops were spaced out evenly across UK motorways, then this would be a toilet stop every 24.1 miles. If you drive at the full speed limit (70mph on a motorway) then on average, you are around 20 and a half minutes away from toilet facilities.

However, 43.9% of the 57 UK motorways in the study (25 out of the 57) had no listed toilet facilities. The longest of these were the ring road M60 (36 miles), the M53 (18.9 miles), and the M69 (15.7 miles).

On the other hand, the motorways with the most listed toilet facilities per mile were the M23 which has a toilet stop for every 3.2 miles of road (0.314 miles), the M74 which has a toilet stop for every 5.7 miles (0.175 miles), and the M42 and M876 which both have toilet stops every 8 miles (0.125 miles).

Half (56.1%) of motorways have no accessible toilet stops

An accessible toilet is a toilet that is not just designed to meet the needs of most wheelchair users. They are also vital to those with chronic bowel and bladder conditions (such as colostomy bag users), those with physical impairments or mobility issues, or anyone who may need the presence of an emergency alarm.

It is estimated that around a quarter of a million people in the UK need accessible toilets. Five years ago, the UK Department for Transport pledged £2 million to build accessible toilets along motorway service stations. Catherine Woodhead, spokesperson for Muscular Dystrophy UK (their partner on the project) underlined the importance of this project, as many individuals and families living with a disability find travelling by car the easiest way for them to get from A to B.

Five years later, 32 out of 57 motorways (56.1%) in this study still have no listed accessible toilets, the M8 (60.3 miles) the M20 (50.6 miles), and the M60 (36 miles) were the longest motorways in the study which had no accessible toilets.

On average, you can expect to find an accessible toilet for every 48.2 miles travelled (0.0208 per mile) – that’s 41 and a half minutes when driving at the maximum speed limit of 70mph. This is double the time it takes to find a standard toilet (20 and a half minutes).

The best motorways for the frequency of accessible toilet stops are the M74 which has an accessible toilet for every 8 miles (0.125 miles), the M48 which has an accessible toilet for every 12.1 miles (0.083 miles) and the M42 which has an accessible toilet for every 13.3 miles (0.075 miles).

Only four in ten (43.1%) of motorways have showering facilities

For HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicles) drivers driving long distances at a time, having a place to refresh and shower is essential. In North America, it’s common for truck drivers to find dedicated truck stops with laundromats, showers, and canteens to help but in the UK finding somewhere to freshen up can prove more difficult.

Of the 57 motorways in the study, only 24 had showering facilities meaning that more often than not (57.9% of the time) you won’t find a shower on your motorway route. On average, there is one shower stop per 50 miles of road (0.020 per mile), which is around 43 and a half minutes at 70mph.

Again, the motorways to avoid if you’re hoping to rinse down are the M8 (60.3 miles), the M20 (50.6 miles), and the M60 (36 miles).

Truckers and long-distance travellers will have much better luck on the M48 which has showering facilities for every 12 miles of road (0.083 per mile), the M1 (in Northern Ireland) which has showers for every 12.7 miles of road (0.079 per mile), and the M74 which has showers for every 13.3 miles of road (0.075 per mile).

The M23 is the UK’s best motorway for toilet and showering facilities

Although just 15.9 miles long, the M23 in the South East of England came out top for its density of toilets, accessible toilets, and showers. There are 5 listed toilet stops, 1 accessible toilet stop, and 1 shower stop available to travellers. This means that you are on average around 3.2 miles away from a toilet stop, or just under 3 minutes when travelling at the maximum speed limit.

The next best motorways for toilet and shower accessibility are the M74 (the 40-mile motorway has 7 toilet stops, 5 accessible toilet stops, and 3 shower stops) and the M42 (the 40-mile motorway has 5 toilet stops, 3 accessible toilet stops, and 3 shower stops).

The top 10 motorways for toilet and shower stops:

*(NI) = Northern Ireland

How frequent are the facilities on Britain’s longest motorways?

If you’re taking a trip down one of Britain’s longest motorways, how long might you have to wait to access facilities?

The longest motorway in the study, the M6 (232.2 miles long) has 22 toilet stops, 12 disabled toilet stops, and 12 shower stops. Taking an average for all facilities, per mile the M6 has better provisions than the average motorway (ranking 7th out of 51). For example, to access a toilet, you need to travel an average of 10.5 miles (per 0.095 miles) or wait 9 minutes when driving at 70mph.

The 2nd longest motorway in the study, the M1 (193.5 miles long) has 16 toilet stops, 10 disabled toilet stops, and 9 shower stops. This motorway also ranks better than average for facilities and 9th overall in the list. You can expect a toilet stop around every 12 miles (per 0.083 mile), which when driving at 70mph is around every 10 minutes.

The third-longest motorway in the UK – the M4 – is 189 miles long and stretches between London and Bristol. This motorway has 13 toilet stops, 12 accessible toilet stops, and 10 shower stops. On average, there is a toilet every 14.5 miles (0.069 per mile) or every 12 and a half minutes, and taking all facilities into account, the motorway ranks 8th best in the study.

Methodology

In September 2024 we looked at 57 motorways in the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) to find out how many service stations there are and checked which ones have toilets, accessible toilets (which meet the needs of the majority of wheelchair users and those with mobility needs), and showers. We used websites that list service stations and their features, then counted and compared the stations with and without these amenities. This uncovered how accessible and convenient the services are for travellers.

We counted each service station as having only one set of facilities (e.g. toilets, accessible toilets, showers), even if multiple units were present. This method ensures that the count reflects whether these facilities are available at each station but does not account for the number of individual units.This approach enables us to evaluate the accessibility and convenience of services for travellers, particularly those with mobility needs.

Note: we did not include A roads or closed roads.

The main sources we used were:

• https://motorwayservices.uk/#Search_for_Motorway_Services
• https://justoffjunction.co.uk/index.php
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motorways_in_the_United_Kingdom

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