Recovery truck ran over my keys

MrSquirrelz

Okay this is more complicated than the title alludes to. 

Vehicle being driven with an expired MOT on 22nd Dec towards prebooked welding appointment.  

Vehicle suddenly cuts out and is pulled over to the side of the two way road but is partially obstructing lane. 

RAC contacted at 22:06 but won’t attend due to expired MOT and instead organises a third party recovery to attend. 

Third party calls me at 23:03 with estimated recovery of between 2 and 3am. 

Third party gave me the option to leave the vehicle to be collected and leave the key in a safe place allowing me to return home. 

Key left on drivers side front tyre and vehicle left to be collected. 

9am the vehicle tracking shows van is nowhere near my premises and has travelled in opposite direction. 

RAC called and they are still waiting for third party to attend with estimated recovery time of 11am!

Called 101 and police informed me that vehicle had been reported as dangerous and had been transported to compound. 

Called compound but was informed that business now closed until Wednesday 27th Dec. 

Returned to scene of breakdown and trawled the road up and down and found mangled remains of key that had been destroyed after being run over by police recovery. 

27th Dec called police recovery to be informed vehicle had been attempted to be recovered to my address but due to key being “misplaced / unavailable” recovery was cancelled. 

RAC has thankfully covered the cost of the compound fees. 

RAC, third party and police recovery are all blaming each other for the loss of keys and are now charging me extra for special equipment to move the vehicle. 

Does anyone have any idea if the cost of destroyed key being replaced or cost to recover vehicle with special equipment could be covered or is this a case of not wanting to push this any further and just lump the costs?

Many thanks. 

LightFlare

MrSquirrelz said:

Okay this is more complicated than the title alludes to. 

Vehicle being driven with an expired MOT on 22nd Dec towards prebooked welding appointment.  

Vehicle suddenly cuts out and is pulled over to the side of the two way road but is partially obstructing lane. 

RAC contacted at 22:06 but won’t attend due to expired MOT and instead organises a third party recovery to attend. 

Third party calls me at 23:03 with estimated recovery of between 2 and 3am. 

Third party gave me the option to leave the vehicle to be collected and leave the key in a safe place allowing me to return home. 

Key left on drivers side front tyre and vehicle left to be collected. 

9am the vehicle tracking shows van is nowhere near my premises and has travelled in opposite direction. 

RAC called and they are still waiting for third party to attend with estimated recovery time of 11am!

Called 101 and police informed me that vehicle had been reported as dangerous and had been transported to compound. 

Called compound but was informed that business now closed until Wednesday 27th Dec. 

Returned to scene of breakdown and trawled the road up and down and found mangled remains of key that had been destroyed after being run over by police recovery. 

27th Dec called police recovery to be informed vehicle had been attempted to be recovered to my address but due to key being “misplaced / unavailable” recovery was cancelled. 

RAC has thankfully covered the cost of the compound fees. 

RAC, third party and police recovery are all blaming each other for the loss of keys and are now charging me extra for special equipment to move the vehicle. 

Does anyone have any idea if the cost of destroyed key being replaced or cost to recover vehicle with special equipment could be covered or is this a case of not wanting to push this any further and just lump the costs?

Many thanks. 

be grateful you arent being charged with anything (you may still be)

you shouldn't have been on the road

Car_54

Were the police recovery operators negligent in not looking for your keys? I don't think so

No-one else seems to have been negligent, so there's no-one to claim against.

GrumpyDil

Be grateful no mention of being prosecuted for no MOT. The only time the car could legally be driven would be to an MOT appointment not to carry out repair work prior to the MOT. 

tedted

no you can drive to an appointed place to get mot repairs done

Mildly_Miffed

How were the police meant to know the key was on the front tyre?

No surprise that the RAC didn't prioritise an unattended vehicle overnight, nor that the compound is closed over Xmas.

Can't you just pass them the spare key, removing the need for any specialist equipment to move it again?

sevenhills

When I lost my keys around five years ago, a replacement set of keys cost me £100 but most were quoting £300

So you may get some keys for £200/£300

I used ebay to find a local locksmith.

MrSquirrelz

Thanks for the comments. Yes I’m very grateful that so far there’s been no mention of MOT business hence why I’m not rushing to push this further. I don’t think there is a spare key unfortunately but I’ll be having another look in case it’s hiding somewhere. Lots of lessons learnt here for me. Hopefully as it’s an older vehicle a new key won’t be extortionate. 

LightFlare

tedted said:

no you can drive to an appointed place to get mot repairs done

true - but OP stated MOT had expired - not failed. Also at 10pm -- that may take some convincing

tedted

he was taking it for welding repairs before mot which is ok as long as he had the mot booked

Car_54

tedted said:

no you can drive to an appointed place to get mot repairs done

Yes, if the repairs are as a result of a failed MOT, not just in anticipation of a test.