SOME motorway service stations are "dingy and unattractive" and should be avoided, says Holiday Which? magazine.

Others checked in a survey of 57 of Britain's 83 service stations were bright and modern, with good facilities for children, said the magazine.

The worst was Cullompton, on the M5 near Bristol.

This was "little more than a McDonald's next to a petrol station".

Cullompton's toilets had unflushed loos with missing seats and broken locks, said the Holiday Which? researchers.

The magazine said Tebay on the M6 in Cumbria was the best service station.

It was an attractive wooden building with terrific views, a decent restaurant and a local produce shop which was "as close as the motorway network comes to Harrods Food Hall".

Holiday Which? said the quality of food varied considerably. At Gordano, near Bristol, the chicken tikka masala was "as good as a local curry house".

But at Magor on the M4 in south-east Wales dinner tasted like "chilli con cardboard".