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Original poster

Car broke down - handhold needed

93 replies

Scaredycatlady · 07/08/2023 22:35

Is anyone around for a handhold please? My car broke down 2 hours ago and the estimated time of arrival for the recovery truck is 4am! I’m stuck on the side of a motorway in the pitch black darkness and absolutely terrified.

OP posts:
coxesorangepippin · 08/08/2023 02:18

Can't you sit in your dh's car?? Or I guess he can't park on the motorway?

TheGirlFromTomorrow · 08/08/2023 03:13

Scaredycatlady · 08/08/2023 02:10

@justgettingthroughtheday I think the only thing that 101 would do is contact Highways who have now said they will ring me every 30 mins until it’s resolved.

Thanks to everyone who pushed me to ring 101 though. I’d never have thought of doing that and it’s probably been the most useful thing in the whole saga.

@TheGirlFromTomorrow DH brought a warm coat and blankets so apart from laying out a sleeping bag at the side of the motorway, I think I’m as warm as I’m going to get for the next few hours 🤣
I've already arranged with RAC to get the car towed to a garage near home. I’m over an hour away from home so want the car to end up as near to me as possible.

Have you got onward travel or will they drop you with the vehicle?

TodaysNameIsZig · 08/08/2023 03:36

I wonder if it would have been better to use a private tow truck company to move you off the motorway to somewhere where you feel more comfortable waiting.

I've AA cover but I also have a app on my phone which finds a local road side assistance or tow truck. I've no idea if it's any good though. It's called RESCUE MATE

Obviously no use if you can't afford it though 🫤

Car broke down - handhold needed
TheGirlFromTomorrow · 08/08/2023 03:40

TodaysNameIsZig · 08/08/2023 03:36

I wonder if it would have been better to use a private tow truck company to move you off the motorway to somewhere where you feel more comfortable waiting.

I've AA cover but I also have a app on my phone which finds a local road side assistance or tow truck. I've no idea if it's any good though. It's called RESCUE MATE

Obviously no use if you can't afford it though 🫤

Tows are pretty expensive, especially if you are waking someone up to do a call out for one.

Original poster
Scaredycatlady · 08/08/2023 04:28

Quick update - I’m finally home. Thank you to you all for distracting me with this thread and offering some very helpful advice. I’ll update properly tomorrow.

OP posts:
Zoflorabore · 08/08/2023 04:32

Many years ago when dd was a 3 month old baby ( she’s now 12 ) we had a similar situation on the m25 after attending my brother’s wedding in Essex. It was just going dark and was torrentially raining and was one of the most petrifying experiences of my life. We also had ds who was then 8 and is autistic and when ringing my dad in a panic the first thing he said was to get out of that car right now and over the barrier to safety. I thought he was crazy!

apparantely there are many accidents where other cars/lorry drivers drive into vehicles that are pulled over on the hard shoulder.

we had a 12 hour recovery in total and had to be towed nearly 250 miles home. I can still remember that fear 12 years on. The highways agency did come and help us out with foil blankets etc but we had to wait for the recovery truck to take us to the nearest safe place.

I hope you’re tucked up in bed now Flowers

Redglitter · 08/08/2023 05:56

QuestionableMouse · 08/08/2023 02:13

Yes you can, if the police and highways agency are aware of it.

Show quote history

You can't in this area. If you notify the police you're leaving your car (to get petrol for instance) they'll allow you about half an hour but any longer than that it gets towed. There's no way they'd allow a car to sit on the hard shoulder for several hours

Hothotdamage · 08/08/2023 06:36

Redglitter · 08/08/2023 05:56

You can't in this area. If you notify the police you're leaving your car (to get petrol for instance) they'll allow you about half an hour but any longer than that it gets towed. There's no way they'd allow a car to sit on the hard shoulder for several hours

Show quote history

Very strange, if the danger is car on the hard shoulder what's the difference if someone is with it or not.

MixedTocopherols · 08/08/2023 08:50

Glad you’re home, OP.

@Zoflorabore that sounds absolutely terrifying! God, two dc of such different ages and needs, and in the rain … I can’t even imagine.

Parky04 · 08/08/2023 09:00

My BIL broke down last week. He rang RAC at 08:00, lots of calls later after promised arrival times, he was put in a hotel at 02:00 the following day. Spent 16 hours waiting with the car. Was then provided with a hire car in the morning so he could drive home. Car was delivered to him 3 days later!

Karwomannghia · 08/08/2023 10:14

Wow I feel I was really lucky when this happened to me a couple of weeks ago- only had to wait half an hour!

QuestionableMouse · 08/08/2023 11:06

Redglitter · 08/08/2023 05:56

You can't in this area. If you notify the police you're leaving your car (to get petrol for instance) they'll allow you about half an hour but any longer than that it gets towed. There's no way they'd allow a car to sit on the hard shoulder for several hours

Show quote history

Yet they are...

It makes no practical difference if there's someone sitting behind the barrier or not if the car is broken down on the hard shoulder!

QuestionableMouse · 08/08/2023 11:07

Hothotdamage · 08/08/2023 06:36

Very strange, if the danger is car on the hard shoulder what's the difference if someone is with it or not.

Show quote history

Exactly - if it was that much of a danger, the police would recover it to a safer spot.

Redglitter · 08/08/2023 13:01

*Yet they are...

It makes no practical difference if there's someone sitting behind the barrier or not if the car is broken down on the hard shoulder*

Thats as maybe but as a Police Despatcher I KNOW for absolute certainty that cars left unattended are removed. I'm not just making this up.

Redglitter · 08/08/2023 13:12

Exactly - if it was that much of a danger, the police would recover it to a safer spot

If its unattended its taken by the removal company to their yard for 2 reasons. Security & cost. If its left in some random side street & is subsequently vandalised thats going to go down well with the owner. And the recovery company don't come out for free. If the cars left for the owner to pick up from a side street there's not a chance in hell they'll get paid. So it goes to their yard where its safely looked after & the owner pays the recovery fee when they collect it

We get a lot of breakdowns towed off the motorway by the traffic cops if the drivers there. They get towed to a safe place then its up to them if they stay with the car while they wait for the AA etc.

FinallyHere · 08/08/2023 20:39

Glad you are safely home @Scaredycatlady such a horrible experience though your DH is a good 'in.

many accidents where other cars/lorry drivers drive into vehicles that are pulled over on the hard shoulder.

The explanation given for how many people drive into vehicles parked on the hard shoulder I was given (on a speed awareness course) is that you naturally steer toward whatever you look at.

This is well known in sporting terms as 'keep your eye on the ball'.

Apparently, drivers tend to look towards vehicles parked on the hard shoulder and end up running into them.

sleepyscientist · 08/08/2023 20:57

If your car brand offers recovery they are usually the best. Mini assist picked me up in the hour, straight to mini dealer who didn't have a free curtesy car so arranged insurance for a car they had for sale. They then dropped my car back off and collected the curtesy car. Out of hours they will take you home or to a hotel and arrange for a courtesy car to be delivered whilst yours is repaired.

Previously had AA on a BMW and spent 8 hours waiting for them after a nightshift but it's kept updating to an hour later, if they had given a true ETA it would have been abandoned.

We once crawled a car off the A1 on the hard shoulder at 5mph. Didn't go to the services, just left at the next exit and left it at the side of the road. Police did come by but only put a police aware sticker on it. Land Rover picked it up days later (electrical fault no one else could tow it).

Original poster
Scaredycatlady · 08/08/2023 21:45

Well it’s been a long day at work after only 3 hours sleep but I’ll do a little update before I head off to bed.

The recovery vehicle finally arrived at 3.30am but only towed the car to the next services which were 15 minutes away. I was then supposed to wait for another recovery vehicle to take the car to the garage near home. It’s worth noting that RAC did not know that DH had joined me so as far as they knew, I was on my own the entire time. At least once the car was at the services I didn’t need to stay with it so arrived home home at 4.30am. The 2nd recovery vehicle finally picked my car up at 1pm today.

The customer service from RAC has been shockingly bad throughout. I won’t go into details but they made mistakes when arranging the subcontractor, which contributed to the delay, and then they lied to cover it up. I’ll definitely be putting a complaint in.

OP posts:
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