Autoaid left us on A1 for nearly 4 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fortyfoot

Broke down at 19.20, tyre bow out on rear wheel at 70mph.

They said they would be with us within an hour, then 15 minutes, then two minutes, what a joke.

In the end I called 999 about 21.45, the police said they knew about me and it was a flat tyre!

Breakdown driver would not move us till police closed A1 inside lane. Breakdown driver was in the cafe 2 minutes down the road.

Police and breakdown arrived about 23.00, only took ten minutes to change the wheel.

We saw about 6 AA vans etc pass while we were stranded there. At least it was a dry warm evening.
 
I have used then a few times before but was never as bad as this.

ontheroad1970

You used 999 for a flat tyre?  Have you heard of 101 - you know, the non emergency line?

DB1904

ontheroad1970 said:

You used 999 for a flat tyre?  Have you heard of 101 - you know, the non emergency line?

Should have been a 999 call when it happened, not 101 two and a half hours later. 

prowla

So, to clarify, the breakdown driver waited for the police to turn up and to make the road safe to do the repair.

pramsay13

If you think there was something wrong with the response from Autoaid you should make a complaint. 
If the risk assessment says that the road has to be closed then I imagine they were just waiting on the police.
Their fault was then in not informing you of this rather than being at fault for the long delay. 

Ibrahim5

Don't understand. Why didn't OP just change wheel in 10 mins and carry on?

unforeseen

Ibrahim5 said:

Don't understand. Why didn't OP just change wheel in 10 mins and carry on?

Because if it's nearside then that is on grass so the jack would sink in.
If the offside then they are on a live carriageway. A very good way to get killed. Even breakdown companies will not undertake any work (including just towing off) to a breakdown in a live lane. 

daveyjp

This is why emergency phones were provided, they went straight to a police/highways who could get assistance to the scene,

Now with mobiles drivers automatically call the breakdown service.

If you break down on a high speed road call the police immediately.

Car_54

On the positive side, it shows the value of having a spare wheel.

[Deleted User]

AutoAid use local contractors and there are a lot of crud ones about.

On the other hand, I broke down on a busy NSL dual carriageway during rush hour once, while the AA guy turned up quite quickly, his attitude gave me the impression he didn't want to be here. And no it was proper break down not a flat tyre. 

shiraz99

daveyjp said:

This is why emergency phones were provided, they went straight to a police/highways who could get assistance to the scene,

Now with mobiles drivers automatically call the breakdown service.

If you break down on a high speed road call the police immediately.

But not by using 999.