Roadchef, who run Sandbach services on the M6, has hit back after the popular stop was placed near the bottom in a survey of services stations across the country by a vehicle hire company.

Sandbach Services came 96th out of 100 service stations across the UK in review by Northgate Vehicle Hire which looked at a number of things from food outlets, available facilities, hotel rating, parking spaces and parking charges.

Sandbach scored 37 points with an overall rating of 4.6, four food outlets, 480 parking spaces and a parking charge of £13 after two hours.

Ranked on a number of factors, the services failed to tick all five of the key features, with services studied on whether they have Wi-Fi, car charging for electric cars, showering facilities, any arcades, and a hotel for tired travellers.

A spokesman from Roadchef told Sandbach Nub News: "We were very disappointed to see that Sandbach had been placed in the bottom five motorway service areas in the UK following a review by Northgate Vehicle Hire.

"We work very hard to ensure we provide a clean, friendly, safe and welcoming experience for road users as they stop off to de-stress on their journeys.

"We recognise our Sandbach service stations (North and South) are slightly smaller service areas and don't have quite as many facilities as some of the larger sites on the list, meaning they received a lower score in the analysis.

"We have ensured all our sites have popular brands to choose from and the high score on the MSO survey shows Sandbach is a great place to break.

"We are always looking for ways to further enhance and expand our offering to motorway users, so we will certainly consider additional options in the future."