"They also have to provide free toilets and free parking for two hours - which is what most visitors use."
Yes, that's the point, and the reason why I use service areas if I'm doing a long journey. I wouldn't get petrol at one, but the loos at non-motorway fuel stations are often filthy, smelly, unisex or all three.
The First and Only Law of Economics operates here - the 'right price' is what some other poor sap will pay. If you've stopped for the loo, the hassle of fnding somewhere off the motorway for a snack, and the extra cost of fuel used in finding it, leads inevitably to buying food at the service area....
....even if it's only a bar of chocolate at > £1 from W H Smith. Smiths' high street shops are so hopeless (all their stuff is done better by other shops) that they make their profits mainly from their shops in service areas and railway stations.
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