LOCATION: I approached the Crossways Service Station from Pembroke Dock across the toll bridge on the A477 towards Haverfordwest. It was easy to find as the Gulf-branded canopy and pole really stood out.

LOCATION: This site is on the ultra-busy M25 and is easily accessible clockwise and anti-clockwise. The site is part of Cobham Services so benefits from countdown signage on the motorway. Once you come off the motorway, it's easy to find your way to the forecourt as you can see the bright Shell signs.

LOCATION: Just on the edge of the town of Nailsea, is the prize-winning Tout's Budgens store.

LOCATION: This site is just off the M4, on Shepiston Lane, right near Heathrow Airport. Forecourt: Banners out the front of this spacious forecourt highlight the goodies inside including a Greggs and a Subway. One banner says 'Fuel your senses'. I was not sure what that meant but afterwards googled it and it refers to an Esso/McLaren/Honda film starring Jenson Button.

LOCATION: My target, Verwood Motors, part of the Central Convenience Stores enterprise, is situated on the B3081 that runs through the town of Verwood, between the A31 and A354.

LOCATION: This Shell site is on a roundabout just outside Brenzett on the Romney Marsh. The site is very visible from the roundabout but it's not obvious how you get to it. I had to turn one way and do a U-turn to get in. There used to be a Little Chef adjacent to the forecourt but now it's a business selling sheds.

LOCATION: Located on the busy A20 in West Malling, Kent my stealth check target is the prize-winning Parkfoot Garage. The site won the first Forecourt Trader of the Year award in 1996 and, for the past four years, has been the Best Site in London & South East in the 4mlpa plus category. Now that's consistency and surely worth another visit.

LOCATION: This site is on the busy A607, also known as Leicester's Golden Mile.
FORECOURT: This is a very impressive looking site. It is clearly signed from the busy main road with the BP sign as well as Spar, Costa Express and Subway branding plus the fuel prices, which were very competitive.

LOCATION: My target is located just to the north of the 'railway town' of Crewe, close to Bradfield Green on the B5076. It is the first MFG- owned garage to trial the Morrisons c-store concept 'Morrisons Daily'.

LOCATION: South Cave is a village, approximately 12 miles from Hull. This Sewell on the go site is just off the busy A63. Forecourt: It's a very impressive drive into the site with the pole sign featuring BP, Costa Express, Subway and Nectar points. There's another big sign with the message 'Subway We Are Now Open' and a smaller one communicating the free-to-use ATM. Yet another sign advertises the Car Spa jet wash and drive thru. A lot of signs but there's lots of space, so it's not cluttered.

LOCATION: Northbound on the M5 and wanting refreshment and to refuel, I just had to head for Gloucester Services (located between junctions 12 and 11a), the 2015 Forecourt Trader of the Year winner. I had heard so many good things about it I was determined to see it for myself.

LOCATION: My target, the Chatham Road Service Station, is located just south of junction six on the M20 and north of Maidstone on the A229. The site is on a service road and if travelling south, drivers must go right round a busy roundabout and come back on themselves. It was okay for me as I wanted to visit the site, but it's a bit of a hassle for local drivers. To make it worthwhile, it needs to be special.

LOCATION: Coalville, a former coal mining town in north west Leicestershire, lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Trent. This site is the first in the UK to be branded Essar.

LOCATION: Hill's Retail Redditch Service Station is close to the new town estate of Winyates, in the middle of a large residential area. Situated on the B4497, it is also very close to a large Bristol Street Motors site and a Morrisons superstore that sells fuel.

LOCATION: The busy A103 Hornsey Rise road dissects the middle of an area bordered by Upper Holloway, Stroud Green and Crouch End. So, my stealth check target is surrounded by thousands of houses.

LOCATION: Swaythling, to the east of Southampton, has lots and lots of households with lots of motors, but only a few superstores, service stations and convenience stores. So, great potential for the Applegreen-branded service station near West End and close to a roundabout on the busy A27 that threads through the district.

LOCATION: Micheldever Service Station is located on the A303 eastbound at Popham and was, until recently, an Esso 'On the Run'. It is now one of the growing numbers of Euro Garage sites in the south. There are the usual 'service station ahead' signs on the A303, but the service station pole is not visible until drivers are on the slip road up to the site.

LOCATION: It has been some time since I visited a large site with a shop operated by a national multiple and where, perhaps, the local team has little strategic autonomy its task being to run the enterprise effectively as dictated by head office.

LOCATION: It is reported that the new My Local convenience store chain "will operate in the space between independents and multiples, with the emphasis on local and fresh". It could be argued that this is the same space that many Budgens operate in. But Budgens is facing possible change now that Booker has purchased it and Londis from Musgrave. So I thought it timely to visit a new Budgens store. This Peregrine Retail site opened this spring. It's a new-build on the A339 almost equidistant (about eight miles) from Basingstoke and Newbury

LOCATION: A free tourist guide to North Norfolk gives a warning to motorists that they may find petrol stations tricky to find. It then gives a list of towns with a filling station so a pin in the list and I find myself off to do a stealth check in Burnham Market.

LOCATION: Shell Lymington is located on the busy A337 Christchurch-to-Lyndhurst road at the village of Pennington, just a mile or so outside Lymington.

In the surgery this month

LOCATION:

High Noon Northbound Services is on the busy A40 between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye at Symonds Yat. High Noon Stores won The Grocer Gold Award in 2014 as the Independent Retail Chain of the Year, so I was keen to visit this site in such a popular tourist destination.

LOCATION: This Forecourt Trader of the Year award-winning site is located on the busy Portsmouth Road, just off the A27. It is on the edge of a dense area of housing, by Highbury College and next to a pub.