TOP food guru Egon Ronay has whipped up a storm at Charnock Richard motorway service station in Chorley after bosses drafted him in to help to improve the grub.

The critic and restaurateur, who once described service station food as 'unspeakable rubbish', has been visiting the Welcome Break station over the last six months to assess the quality of the tucker in its various eateries, and awarding them stars according to a rating system he introduced especially.

The system goes from zero to three stars -- so far one star has been awarded to the Red Hen restaurant, one star each at its north and south Granary restaurants and two at the Brioche.

Mr Ronay said: "My mission at Charnock Richard is simple -- to ensure it offers top quality food to travellers at all times.

"We've got off to a good start but there is still a lot of work to do before motorway food improves its reputation."

Since March this year, Mr Ronay and his team of tasters have been visiting Welcome Break's 24 service stations, which run 90 restaurants and eateries.

Eddie Gershon, from Welcome Break, said: "Egon's reputation goes before him -- even though some people may not have seen him or be aware of his career, most people would associate his name with food.

"He has set the levels for his rating system and restaurants get awarded according to this. However, they will have to keep standards up because the stars can be taken away just as easily as they can be given out."

The arrangement is exclusive to Welcome Break service stations and is the first grading system on motorway dining.