Google users are complaining about a “tainted toilet” near Mahndorf

When you’re hitting the bubble on the highway, there’s no way to beat your comfort zone. But in addition to comfort, disgust awaits.

Comfort zone restrooms on the highway are not oases of luxury. But some are so careless that you hardly want to touch the toilet door handle. A particularly bad example is the A1 road between Bremen and Achim.

The Mahndorfer Marsch West resting area in the direction of Osnabrück has a number of bad reviews on Google. But that’s not all: It also failed last year’s Auto Club Europa pit stop check, scoring just 33 percent in the cleanliness and hygiene category. You can read more about the comfort zone test here.

The comfort zone’s poor performance is confirmed in Google reviews: “I’ve never seen such a dirty and polluted toilet… demolishing it and building a new one is the only option,” says one commenter. “The toilets are indescribably dirty and smelly,” says another review. Another complained “I’ve seen plenty of parking spaces, but this is the worst, and very dirty.”

The comfort zone as a whole doesn’t work well either: “Well-fed rats are running all over the parking lot,” one Googler wrote. In addition, the littering and poor lighting of the field were criticized in reviews. There are also average to good ratings for the rest area, but the poor condition of the toilets tears the average.

Someone wrote in the comments: “The toilets are unbelievably disgusting, filthy, no soap available, would not recommend anyone to stop here!” “Resting area very dirty. The toilet is a disaster. It looks accordingly in the bush, be careful not to step on anything,” advises another. One reviewer advises wearing a protective suit before entering the restrooms or avoiding the rest area altogether “if possible.”

The Mahndorfer Marsch West rest area is one of 1,500 unsupervised rest areas in Germany. “Unmanaged” means that the facility only has a restroom and green spaces, but no service facilities such as gas stations or restaurants. This is what the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport writes. Autobahn GmbH is responsible for the unmanaged rest areas – but left unanswered a t-online inquiry about the poor condition of the Mahndorfer Marsch West facility.

But it’s not just bad out there: Testing conducted by the ADAC last year when examining the comfort zone yielded “sometimes scary results,” according to the site. Of the 50 unmanaged facilities tested in Germany, more than one in five failed, and the biggest shortcomings were found in terms of safety, cleanliness and accessibility.