RAC refused to help breakdown because they had dogs inside the vehicle

catkins

thorsoak wrote: »

The campervan in question was 35' in length; the dogs were crated.

The RAC has - eventually - issued a statement, full of weasel words - they will have lost a lot of customers today. Any RAC member who travels with a dog is at risk of being abandoned.

I really really hope they HAVE lost a lot of customers today. They have certainly lost me and OH and I know at least 3 friends on facebook who say they have cancelled their cover with them.

How anyone can defend the RAC is beyond me. 3 dogs died today, 1 woman is seriously injured. It is a miracle the other women were not injured or even killed.

I hope whoever decided they could not be helped because they dared to have dogs in their vehicle can sleep tonight knowing what happened.

As to the total idiot driver who slammed into a broken down vehicle on the hard shoulder, they should be banned from driving for life and I hope they too can sleep tonight knowing what damage and distress they have caused

corbyboy

thorsoak wrote: »

It is only half the story - the original Recovery patrol REFUSED to help and left them in a vulnerable position without referring the situation to the motorway police.

The RAC were told that the vehicle was a 35' campervan when the driver made the first call.

I am not totally sure where you are getting your information from so you may very well know more about this situation than me.

But do you really mean the original driver refused to tow them, or was he just unable? Are you saying he had the means to tow their campervan but refused simply because there were dogs inside?
If so, why did they despatch a second recovery vehicle? What was he able to do that the first one couldn't?

Additionally, when the first driver refused to tow them, what did they do then? Why didn't they call the police or arrange to be towed by somebody else?

thorsoak

1. The RAC, having been given the information that it was a 35' campervan, sent out a vehicle incapable of retrieving the van.

2. Because of the dogs, he refused to take the occupants to a "place of safety".

3. He failed to notify the motorway authorities of the vulnerable position that he left the occupants in.

The RAC say that retrieval of a vehicle with dogs is "at the discretion of the recovery driver". This driver's discretion left these people in a vulnerable position for over three hours.

My information is from an extremely reliable source.


We were made aware of this position of the RAC several years ago, when we were regularly driving around the country with up to 6 dogs (3 of the dogs being giant breed) to championship dog shows.

whitewing

What happened to the lorry driver? Our thoughts need to be with that family too as whatever happened, they will have family and friends that will be shattered too.

meritaten

Why weren't the traffic police attending? they could easily have closed off one lane to keep the stranded ladies and dogs safe?
But I am glad we aren't with RAC - I would have got OH to cancel membership too! this is disgraceful!

meritaten

It never ceases to amaze me how many 'hard shoulder' accidents are caused by lorries! why would they drive at speed onto the hard shoulder and why wouldn't they see something as large as this campervan? you can see from the amount of damage how fast this lorry must have been going! the 'van was virtually destroyed!

bobbyck

I have only joined this forum to post this. I do appreciate others have an opinion and I respect that. But to hint that this was the fault of the owners or they should have removed the dogs. Oh get real no one expects a lorry to plough into you. THE RAC WERE AT FAULT they should have informed the police of the situation and stayed with these people to help or another recovery to get them out of the sitation quickly.

I pray the some of you are never in such a situation.

catkins

whitewing wrote: »

What happened to the lorry driver? Our thoughts need to be with that family too as whatever happened, they will have family and friends that will be shattered too.

I heard the driver of the lorry was fine - as they usually are because they are up so high in the cab. They shouldn't be driving if they can't see a 35 foot camper van on the hard shoulder

catkins

bobbyck wrote: »

I have only joined this forum to post this. I do appreciate others have an opinion and I respect that. But to hint that this was the fault of the owners or they should have removed the dogs. Oh get real no one expects a lorry to plough into you. THE RAC WERE AT FAULT they should have informed the police of the situation and stayed with these people to help or another recovery to get them out of the sitation quickly.

I pray the some of you are never in such a situation.

I totally agree. The RAC are at fault.

Also we all know that the hard shoulder is a dangerous place to be thanks to so many idiot drivers on our roads, particularly lorry drivers and that you should get out of your vehicle. However you may think in a 35 foot camper van you are fairly safe. They had been stuck there for 3 hours in the cold and wet and could have been standing away from the vehicle for some of that time and got so cold and wet they decided to sit in the vehicle

M0ney

Mojisola wrote: »

Why didn't the owners follow police advice which is to get everyone out of the vehicle if you break down on the motorway?

They could have taken the dogs up the bank and tied them to trees where they would have been safe.

Better question - why was the lorry driver not paying attention? There could easily have been people killed, not just dogs!