Can Someone In The Know Explain "Free Recovery"

Shoshannah

At about 11.30pm last night I saw two vehicles being offloaded from yellow pick-ups onto the carpark of South Mimms services. One of them subsequently had the tyre changed.

I could be wrong but I assumed these cars had been collected by 'Free Recovery' and were being dumped at the nearest services?

asbokid

I wonder why the Mersey Tunnel Authority does not offer free recovery...

Instead, the Authority imposes these ridiculous charges for vehicle breakdowns..

Private/light goods vehicle up to 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight with trailer

£104 per hour
Minimum charge one hour
*Penalty Surcharge £77

*For stoppages caused by fuel shortage or flat tyre (with no serviceable spare) there is a penalty surcharge in addition to the normal breakdown charge.

There will be an additional charge of £16 for administrative costs if breakdown charges, escort fees or outstanding tolls remain unpaid after 14 days.

On the move? Or on the make?

Money_Grabber13579

The charges for running out of fuel or the flat tyre with no spare aren't over the top, bearing in mind it's illegal to do these things on a Motorway, and presumably on other fast roads.

Money_Grabber13579

And yes, they'll just dump you at the nearest safe point.

asbokid

Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »

The charges for running out of fuel or the flat tyre with no spare aren't over the top, bearing in mind it's illegal to do these things on a Motorway, and presumably on other fast roads.

I just checked and that is just not true.

The following is taken from the AA website:

Spare tyre

There is no legal obligation to carry a spare tyre and it does not have to comply with the legal requirements while it is stowed away...

Furthermore, it is not illegal to run out of fuel on a motorway nor on any other category of road in the UK.

Running out of fuel could be dangerous, perhaps. But it's certainly not illegal.

Besides, £181 for recovery is a lot of money to me, and to many other people. And it's not even a costly job for the Tunnel Authority. They have tow-trucks waiting at the ends of both the Queensway and Kingsway tunnels, and the maximum towing distance is less than a mile..

How does the recovery charge from the Mersey tunnels compare to the recovery charges for the other road tunnels in the UK? What does it cost to be recovered from the Blackwall tunnel, for example?

What about road bridges? The Severn bridges? The Dartford Crossing? What are the recovery charges from those? I think we should be told!

anewman

asbokid wrote: »

Running out of fuel could be dangerous, perhaps. But it's certainly not illegal.

Ah I did wonder this when they did the Top Gear challenges involving an amount of fuel and travelling a certain distance, especially when they were on the motorway with the fuel light on. Perhaps its another of those urban myths.

Tally-Ho_2

Having recently broken down in the 'free recovery' area in the roadworks on the A1(M) near Weatherby, after waiting about 5 minutes, the 'free' recovery truck came along and towed me to the new service area at Weatherby. They let me use their mobile phone to ring the RAC.

The recovery chap said they only tow people to the nearest 'safe area' and no further. You can however arrange with them to recover you further but it is at a cost to the driver of the broken down car and also depends if it leaves enough recovery people on site should there be further problems (they are contracted to have a certain amount of recovery people onsite 24x7).

harveybobbles

I'm sure one of the many Bobbies sat at either end of the Merssey Tunnels could assist. Isn't this what our council Tax goes towards !!!!!!...

dzug1

asbokid wrote: »

IAnd it's not even a costly job for the Tunnel Authority. They have tow-trucks waiting at the ends of both the Queensway and Kingsway tunnels, and the maximum towing distance is less than a mile..

Having tow trucks waiting at both ends of a tunnel IS a costly operation. OK the marginal cost of a single tow is not that high, but the standing costs are.

vikingaero

If the free recovery ends 3 miles from the next junction then they may as well tow you to the next junction because the recovery vehicle will have to travel there anyway to return back to base.