Life on the most hated motorway in Britain: Hours-long delays, dangerous lanes and run-down service stations – drivers reveal why the M1 has been voted the country’s worst road

Furious drivers have revealed why the M1 has been been voted the country’s worst motorway, citing lengthy delays, dangerous lanes and run-down service stations.

Motorists using the M1 motorway, which connects London to Leeds, have spoken about the grueling reality of travelling along the 193-mile road, criticising its never-ending traffic, roadworks and dangerous incidents. 

While several complained about the 50mph speed limits, arguing that they were designed to catch individuals out, others condemned the decision to use the hard shoulder as an extra lane, arguing that it could cause accidents.

The controversial new road restrictions were introduced due to the construction of smart motorway emergency areas along the M1.

It comes as the M1 was officially revealed to be the country’s most-hated motorway, with Transport Focus’ new Strategic Roads User Survey finding that just 57 per cent of drivers were satisfied with their journey on the road.

Daniel Ward, from Manchester, is a frequent user of the M1 due to having business offices located in London.

Describing the major north-south route as ‘horrendous’ to drive along, he said: ‘It’s absolute chaos. There’s always traffic. 

‘We’re heading back to Manchester today and it should be about a three-and-a-half-hour journey, but we checked the route, and it says five hours.

‘We’re trying to work at the same time but the service is terrible along the road so we can’t even take work calls in the car. We have to keep stopping.’

Speaking from London Gateway services, the 33-year-old also expressed concern about the ‘incredibly dangerous’ use of the hard shoulder as a fourth lane.

Adding that he ‘doesn’t like it at all’, he said: ‘What are people meant to do when they break down?

‘Another issue is that the variable speed limits change all the time – and I’ve seen so many people getting flashed. It’s almost like a trap.’

In the new Transport Focus survey it was revealed that most of the more than 9,000 road users surveyed ‘recognise’ the need for the emergency areas on the smart motorway but they had felt ‘the impact of roadworks’. 

John and Ruth Hudson, who had stopped at Newport Pagnell services, also often frequent the M1. While the married couple live in Newcastle, their sons attend colleges in Surrey and Buckinghamshire.

Mr Hudson, 47, expressed similar frustration towards the variable speed limits, adding that he has been ‘caught before’ by the smart technology and would prefer to use the A1 in order to avoid them. 

Meanwhile, Ms Hudson agreed that her desired preference was the A1, explaining: ‘The service stations are nicer.’

Alongside Mr Ward, the 39-year-old also raised concerns for the lack of a hard shoulder on parts of the M1, describing the restriction as ‘dangerous’ and something that ‘worries her’.

In 2023, Anne Pember, a senior coroner for Northamptonshire, wrote to road bosses warning that the lack of a hard shoulder created ‘a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken’. 

Ms Pember’s warning came after she presided over the inquest of David Levett. The 53-year-old, who had cerebral palsy, was a rear seat passenger when his carer’s Seat Leon was smashed into from behind by a lorry on the M1 while stationary in February 2018.

The stretch had no hard shoulder as it had been converted into an ‘all-lane running’ (ALR) smart motorway.

This means drivers can become marooned in live traffic if they’re unable to reach an emergency layby.

In 2023, Rishi Sunak, then Prime Minister, announced that all planned future smart motorway schemes were to be cancelled due to drivers losing confidence in ‘death trap’ roads. 

However, he did not scrap any of the hundreds of miles of existing schemes, raising an abundance of safety concerns and criticism from campaigners. 

HGV driver Jeff Alstead, 66, described the M1 as ‘awful’, with there ‘always’ traffic jams, often in predictable areas. 

He said: ‘There are always traffic jams on the M1. I can tell you exactly where they’ll be each time, too. There’s always one at Canterbury.

‘The other day there was a jam for 20 miles. I was stuck for four hours.’

Mr Alstead, who was taking a break at Newport Pagnell services, also argued that the missing hard shoulder had actually made traffic worse, rather than helping to improve congestion as had been initially hoped. 

Claiming that the decision to axe the hard shoulder in replacement of a fourth lane had been ‘ridiculous’. He asked: ‘What am I meant to do if I break down?’

In 2021, it was reported that a stretch of the M1’s ‘smart motorway’ which had promised to boost the local economy by almost £1billion had actually increased congestion, slowing down journey times at an expected loss of more than £200million.

The damning figures, obtained via a freedom of information request by Highways Magazine, showed that there had been little benefit in introducing a ‘dynamic hard shoulder’ along junctions 10 to 13 on the M1 from December 2012 to December 2017. 

One unfortunate road user driving along the M1 had reportedly already seen a crash by the time he stopped for a break at Toddington Services. 

Nicky Frances, 31, who was driving from Margate to Manchester to see Oasis in concert, described some of the speed variables and incident warnings as ‘pretty annoying’ and resulting in a ‘slow moving road’.

He added: ‘I had one which said there was a cyclist in the road, but I didn’t see anything, so sometimes it seems like everyone is just slowing down for no reason.’

Meanwhile, Shelley Bartosa, 58, who was visiting the UK from Michigan in the US, said that she had witnessed several incidents while driving along the M1. 

Stating that she resonates with people’s frustrations given her negative experiences on the M1, Ms Bartosa said: ‘We’ve come here in the summer for the past couple years and a year ago we were on the M1 when a sausage truck overturned.

‘We were there for hours The thing I’ve noticed is that you end up stuck with nowhere to go. In the US, there are more exit options.

‘So I can see why people are frustrated.’

The new Transport Focus survey results revealed that the M1 had scored a satisfaction rating of just 57 per cent followed by a joint result of 60 per cent for both the M7 and the M25. 

The A47 received the lowest A road rating overall with just 56 per cent of road users satisfied with their experience. 

At the other end of the scale, the A30 from Exeter to Penzance is rated as England’s best road.

‘Recently upgraded to dual carriageway with new surfacing. Journey time improved,’ said one happy road user.

Despite an overwhelming degree of negative feedback towards the M1, Capalin Cotoarba, 31, argued that the M25 was ‘much worse’ to travel on due to the high likelihood of traffic jams. 

Catharine Crawshaw, 71, also voiced similar criticisms of the 117-mile-long motorway, stating: ‘It’s the M25 that’s the worst bit. Last Friday we were stuck on there for two hours’. 

And, amid all of the objections, David Duro, 50, who was resting at Toddington services, even came out in defence of the M1.

While he agreed that it can be quite traffic heavy, the HGV driver claimed it has significantly improved over the past few years due to the new system. 

He continued: ‘It’s a motorway – so sometimes it flows and sometimes it doesn’t. But I just find there’s no point getting stressed about it.

‘It is what it is. At the end of the day it’s just about getting there safely.’

In response to the survey results, Louise Collins, director at the independent watchdog Transport Focus, previously said: ‘Long stretches of roadworks, sometimes one after another, and miles of cones have had a significant impact on road user satisfaction with England’s motorways, with a disappointing downward trend over the past couple of years.

‘While roadworks are necessary to help maintain roads and drive improvements in user experience, the decrease in road user satisfaction reinforces the importance of National Highways learning the lessons from the smart motorway emergency area retrofit programme.

‘We’ll be working with National Highways to help them use these survey findings as they plan future roadworks to make sure the impact on users is minimised.’

National Highways finished its installation of emergency areas in March with Transport Focus reporting there are ‘early signs’ that satisfaction is recovering after the completion of the works.

A National Highways spokesperson also said at the time: ‘Installing more than 150 extra motorway emergency areas was a commitment made in 2022, with a stretching deadline of Spring 2025, to support drivers’ confidence whilst travelling on smart motorways.

‘We successfully completed this work in March, delivering around five years’ worth of work in just over three.

‘Drivers should now experience fewer delays and the M1 is now entirely free of major roadworks for the first time since 2008.’