England M6 Charnock Richard SC

How are they providing access to the hotel?

If this is ANPR, then the hotel will probably have a means to defeat it for their customers - so it may just require that you register with the hotel while charging (though that's just speculation).

 

But my point was that the same route is used to access the hotel - there are (or were) even “hotel->” signs on the southbound side telling you to use the service road.

So whatever solution is put in for the hotel is potentially there for the SC.

 

I think @arg is right - based on this report it looks like access will continue to be granted for southbound drivers - new signs explicitly permit access for the hotel and Tesla charging.

Slip roads for M6 Charnock Richard services set to close

I expect access is being tightened up now the new Ramada hotel has opened.

 

Since reading your post I had a look on other forums, and one poster thought that the signs in the photo have been there a while (they might just be showing the ones on the northbound side) but _newer_ signs have been put up indicating that all public access to the service roads will be prevented (staff and emergency vehicles only). So now I'm not so sure that Tesla drivers will be able to access the supercharger from the southbound carriageway except by going down to the next junction (adding on 6 miles, plus a further 9 to get back to where you started). The access road was coned off yesterday prior to installation of the new ANPR-activated bollards.

The discussion I read is that this is Highways Agency policy, so outside the remit of the services and the hotel. From a safety and security point of view I can understand why they may want to enforce this - and with the latest ANPR technology it is probably becoming easier to police.

 

An update which essentially just confirms @nowtleft 's news in post #1: I visited Charnock Richard (northbound) last week and can confirm the new barrier is in place (and apparently manned by a guard). Hotel staff also confirmed that the access road cannot be used by the public, including their guests, and this policy is expected to remain in place. I'd imagine Ramada will be more inconvenienced by this than Tesla: it would be a lot easier to add more chargers on the southbound side than building & staffing another hotel!

Now that the newly refurbished/rebuild hotel is open it's worth noting that they have toilets and food available so if you don't feel like taking your chances crossing the service entry road (with blind bend hiding oncoming vehicles for added thrills) and trekking over to the main service area the hotel reception area is a handy alternative.

 

did anything come of this its my closest and only supercharger without parking for hours in preston.

 

This Supercharger can be difficult from the north! Heading south the Navi took me off the M6 and came up with a crosscountry route that eventually led to an intercom controlled barrier which was owned by the hotel. The hotel then refused to drop the barrier for me! The woman controlling it said she could only drop the barrier for hotel customers or emergency services! I could see the superchargers...

They said I should go back to the motorway and go south to the next exit, then drive north and enter via the northbound services! As it turned out somebody was leaving and had the barrier drop code so I dashed in anyway while the route was clear!

While charging I chatted with a guy waiting and he said usually the hotel will drop the barrier on request.

And, of course when I did get charged I had to go north to the next exit before resuming my track south.

However, when you do finally gain access there are plenty of free chargers! Hopefully they'll get some chargers soon on the southbound side.

After the event I see there is Mill Lane going over the M6 and connecting the North and Southbound services but the Navi didn't choose that. Anyone know why?

 

The barrier is there to enforce Highways Agency rules, i.e. access only for permitted vehicles. As per discussion previously in this thread, since the rules were properly enforced in 2018 hotel customers are permitted but Tesla drivers wanting to visit the Supercharger from the southbound carriageway are not. Evidently the hotel got permission but Tesla has either been refused or not tried applying. From an enforcement point of view this makes sense as hotel users can be checked against the reservation list, but Tesla drivers could just be looking for a shortcut (there wouldn't be many but still, there's no way to check).

The issue with this location is that the services used to be an unofficial motorway junction from the local road network. When I first used Charnock Richard (before the barrier was upgraded and access properly enforced) I watched a steady stream of vehicles drive though the access road, and it wasn't even a particularly busy time of day. I sympathise with the hotel staff who presumably have to police the barrier intercom and refuse drivers access, I can imagine not all drivers will be polite and understanding.

As things stand it therefore makes sense that the Nav doesn't include access via Mill Lane for southbound trips. I did read of a driver who said they'd been routed there and if the Nav does do this it should be reported as a bug.

Fingers crossed Tesla can get some southbound chargers which would be the best solution. In the meantime perhaps the signage should be improved to warn drivers that Supercharger access is not permitted via Mill Lane.

 

This is interesting stuff. I didn't realise Charnock was such a saga.

We had set off from Hellifield bound for Liverpool. The route my Navi gave us brought us off the southbound M6 quite a bit north of Charnock, and took us through minor roads eventually via Eccleston and Heskin (west of the M6), then down Park Hall road which leads to Mill lane and thus to the controlled barrier.

 

Ah okay so the Nav shouldn't really suggest that routing, at least you weren't caught short of charge. I don't know the area that well but it looks like a detour down to Burtonwood should have been the preferred option, or if it was a return trip then Charnock Richard would have been fine to access on the way back.

Over the years I've concluded it's worth having a quick check of unfamiliar (UK) Supercharger locations in case they have limited access from some directions. So for example using the access road for Tebay in Cumbria is fine (but the Nav sometimes routes you via local villages instead) and I believe Woodall southbound is also currently accessible via a service road if travelling north, but others such as Keele are guarded by barriers (at least Keele has both north and southbound Superchargers now).

 

So what do we do to get tesla to either move or block this or fix it?
It's waisting 12 chargers as you only will get half the usage.