Last weekend a few of my friends and I went to France for a couple of days on our motorbikes. It took weeks to plan and organise and on Friday morning we set off from Aylesbury to Folkestone to catch the Euro tunnel all looking forward to the break.

Well for one of us it wasn’t so much fun. Scoob broke down on the M20 only about 15 miles away from the Euro Tunnel with a puncture. Fortunately for him he had taken out breakdown cover so he called them out, explained “I’m on a motorbike with a puncture” and the recovery people said they would be with him within an hour.

The rest of us carried on to the Euro Tunnel and were going to wait for him there and whilst in the terminal tracked down a motorbike shop nearby that had a new tyre that could fit it for him and get him on his way.

So back to poor old Scoob stuck on the motorway, he called the breakdown people out at 12.20 and they duly arrived within the hour. Unfortunately for him although he told them I’m on a motorbike with a puncture they sent out a van unequipped to deal with him and said they would have to order another lorry that could transport his motorbike to the local motorbike shop to get his tyre changed. 6 and half hours later at 18.50 they returned. By this time the motorbike shop was closed so he gave up and got them to take him home eventually arriving just after 10pm.

To me that seems totally unacceptable. To be left stranded by the side of a busy motorway for 6 and half hours without food and drink is bad enough but he also lost the money he paid for his Euro Tunnel ticket and hotel room.

Okay they got to him within an hour but they did that knowingly that when they arrived they wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Why would a breakdown company do that? For an extra fee for 2 trips? To honour their commitment to arrive within an hour? Who knows?

Posted in Rants & Raves