Vehicle recovery after a breakdown

A car can stop working anywhere, on a quiet street or in the middle of a motorway. What you do first depends on where it stops. Getting the car moved comes after that.

On a motorway or a fast road

The Highway Code applies in England, Scotland and Wales. It says the safest place to stop on a motorway or another high-speed road is a service area. If a red or amber warning light comes on, or the car develops a problem, leave at the next exit or pull into a service area if you can. National Highways asks drivers not to stop in a live lane unless there is no other choice.

If you cannot get off the road, National Highways and the Highway Code give the same three steps.

Go left. Move into the left lane. Pull into an emergency area, a lay-by or the hard shoulder if you can reach one. Stop as far to the left as you can, with room to get out and the wheels turned to the left. Switch on the hazard warning lights, and the sidelights too if it is dark or hard to see.

Get safe. If it is safe to get out, leave by the side away from the traffic, and bring your passengers out the same way. Wait behind the safety barrier where there is one, well away from the car. National Highways says not to go back to the car, even in rain, cold or darkness. It also says not to try any repairs, and not to put a warning triangle on the carriageway. Animals must stay in the car, or in an emergency be kept under control on the verge.

Sometimes you cannot reach the left lane or a safe place, or cannot get out safely. Then stay in the car with your seat belt on and the hazard lights flashing. Call 999 and ask for the police, or press the car's SOS button if it has one.

Get help. Once you are somewhere safe, use the free emergency telephone. On England's motorways and major A roads, you can also call National Highways on 0300 123 5000 from your mobile. Then call a breakdown recovery service. Face the oncoming traffic while you talk. Tell whoever answers if you are disabled, older or travelling alone.

The emergency services will want to know where you are. You can read them the numbers and letters on the marker posts along the edge of the road. A mapping app on your phone can show your position too.

Emergency areas on smart motorways

Some motorways have no hard shoulder, or let traffic drive on it as an extra lane. Along those roads there are emergency areas instead. The Highway Code describes them as places marked by blue signs with an orange SOS telephone symbol. Some have an orange road surface.

Drivers may use an emergency area only in an emergency. To leave one, you must use its emergency telephone and follow what the operator tells you. A lane may need to be closed so that you can rejoin the motorway safely.

Breaking down on other roads

On an ordinary road, the Highway Code asks you to get the car off the road if possible. Use the hazard lights if the car is in the way of other traffic. Light or fluorescent clothing helps people see you by day, and reflective clothing helps at night.

A warning triangle goes at least 45 metres behind the car, on the same side of the road. Take care putting it out and bringing it back. On a motorway, never use one.

Keep yourself and everyone else out of the space between the car and the oncoming traffic. At night, stand where you will not hide the car's lights from other drivers.

Recovery workers may have to work in the carriageway, alongside the police and traffic officers. Drivers coming past must follow any directions the police or traffic officers give.

When you pay a recovery business yourself

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies across the UK. Its rules on services apply when a business supplies a service to a consumer. In the Act, a consumer is a person acting mainly outside their own trade or business. A company moving its own vans is not a consumer.

The business must take reasonable care and skill over the service. That duty is in section 49.

Sometimes the contract fixes no time for the service, and no way of setting one, and the business gave none beforehand. Section 52 then says it must be done within a reasonable time.

Sometimes the contract fixes no price, and no way of working one out, and the business stated none beforehand. If you have not paid either, section 51 says you owe a reasonable price for the service, and no more.

If the service falls short of reasonable care and skill, the Act lets you ask for it to be done again. In some cases you can ask for a price reduction instead.

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