South Mimms services

South Mimms services is a motorway service station on the M25 motorway near London. It is owned by Welcome Break.

The modern service area is just off the A1 at Bignell's Corner, where it meets the M25. It was constructed in 1986 as the first service area on the M25, and was planned to be one of four Motorway Service areas on the London Orbital motorway (of which only three have, at present been built, the other two being at Thurrock and Clacket Lane).

The building was completely destroyed by fire in August 1998, as a result of deep frying food and lack of sufficient fire suppression system - subsequent papers have been written detailing lessons learned from this event. [Out of the frying pan… by VOELKERT C; in the Fire prevention Journal ISSN 0309-6866 CODEN FPRVD7 1998, no314, pp. 24-26]

The siting of the motorway service area has often been criticised, as it is at a heavily congested motorway-motorway intersection. [ [http://www.cbrd.co.uk/badjunctions/1-25-1081.shtml CBRD Bad Junctions page] ]

Trivia

Being situated in a rural location on a major hub of the UK's transport network, South Mimms services provides more variety of interest than just petrol and chips... including a much more sinister side as a meeting point for illegal activities such as gun and drug deals.

* In 2004, author Roger Green produced a book called Destination Nowhere [ISBN 1-84401-352-9, Athena Press Ltd] , where he attempts to capture everyday life at a Motorway Service Area, finding that far from being dull he is captivated by how unusual the whole experience is.

* South Mimms has been a regular 'drop off' point for asylum seekers and illegal immigrants coming to the UK on HGVs for years, as it one of the first stops an HGV driver may make having driven from the Channel Ports [needs attributing, can't find link with stats at the moment]

* A man from East London known as the 'Jihad Plumber' was arrested at the service area while attempting to buy weapons such as a rocket launcher in November 2005 [ [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16429210&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=mi5-foil-missile-blitz-on-hols-jet-name_page.html Daily Mirror article] ]

* In 2001 police seized drugs worth £12 million pounds from an HGV which had entered the UK from Spain [ [http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/archive/display.var.160603.0.police_seize_drugs_worth_12m_at_motorway_services.php This is Local London news article] ]

* South Mimms Services is possibly unique in being a service station on a national cycle route, in this case National Cycle Network route 12, the section in Hertfordshire from Hadley Wood to Hatfield, Hertfordshire.

External links

* [http://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/services/south/ Motorway Services Online - South Mimms]

References