Emergency4 min read
Broken down on the motorway: what to do first
A motorway breakdown is the one situation where doing the obvious thing — staying with your car — can be the wrong call. This is what the Highway Code asks of you, and what we need to hear on the phone to find you quickly.
Get as far left as you can
The moment you know something is wrong, indicate left and work your way onto the hard shoulder or into an emergency area. Stop as far to the left as possible, turn the wheels to the left, and put the hazard lights on. At night, or in poor visibility, leave the sidelights on too.
Get out on the left, and get behind the barrier
If it is safe to leave the vehicle, everyone gets out by the nearside doors — never the offside, into live traffic. Then get behind the safety barrier and stand up the embankment, back from the vehicle rather than in front of it. Leave animals in the car.
- Nearside doors only
- Behind the barrier, uphill of the vehicle where possible
- Wear something high-visibility if you have it
- Animals stay in the vehicle
On a smart motorway with no hard shoulder
If there is no hard shoulder and you cannot reach an emergency area, this is the exception: stay in the vehicle, keep your seatbelt on, put the hazards on and ring 999. National Highways can close the lane and set the signs before anyone approaches on foot. Do not get out into a live lane.
What to tell us when you call
Recovery is a lot faster when we know exactly which side of the road you are on. Motorway, direction of travel, and the nearest junction number or marker post are the three things that matter — the marker post is the small blue sign at the roadside with a number on it, and it locates you to a hundred metres.
- Which motorway, and which direction you were heading
- Nearest junction number, or the marker post number
- Whether you are on the hard shoulder or in a live lane
- Make, colour and registration of the vehicle
What happens next
Once we have those details we can give you a realistic arrival time and a fixed price on the same call. Motorway jobs get priority over driveway jobs, because they are the ones where standing around is genuinely dangerous.
In short
Left as far as you can, out on the nearside, behind the barrier — then call. If there is no hard shoulder, stay belted in and ring 999 first.
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