Disappointment with Mayday!
Yesterday our vehicle died on us and went completely dead. I managed to sort of pull off the road with no power steering etc. Not even the hazard lights would work. The vehicle was on a slight bend and causing an obstruction. I contacted Mayday informing them of the situation plus that I am a vulnerable person with mobility issues. I also informed them that we had a little dog with us and the operator said he would prioritise the incident.
We were given a time of arrival about an hour after we called. At the allocated time we got another call stating that it will be another half hour. Then another call stating another hour. At that point I contacted Mayday again as neither of us could sit in the car for any length of time due to the heat as no power we could not open windows. Plus our little dog would get uncomfortable panting like a steam engine.
The lady who answered our second call advised us that the call had not been prioritised. Although we were in south Gloucestershire apparently the breakdown was coming from Cardiff as a flatbed was required. I would have thought that there would have been operators with flat beds a lot nearer than Cardiff which was an hour and half drive away as Gloucester, Cheltenham or even Birmingham was a lot closer. The lady then got someone more local to deal with the incident. It took nearly 3 hours for Mayday to arrive from time of first call.
However the driver that did arrive was helpful and took us back to our campsite where we will need to be collected tomorrow, caravan to storage, car home and then to dealership on Monday.
A concern was that the breakdown driver advised us that normally they do not allow dogs in their cabs which is understandable, but if the windows on the vehicle cannot be opened it would be a criminal offence for the dog to travel in the car on a hot day even if there was water in the vehicle.
Comments
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I'm always a bit concerned about what would happen if we broke down with the dogs in the car and it was not fixable roadside.
Could you hire a small car to get you home with the dog? Costly, but infinitely preferable to the alternative, especially given the likely weather conditions?
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Yes indeed, my daughter had the mis-fortune to get a puncture within roadworks on the M6 yesterday, she was in the free recovery area, they have 2 dogs, the driver was reluctant to have the dogs in the cab, but daughter insisted that no way were they staying in the car and he relented, drove them to the next service station and dumped them.
Car is a Ford Ecosport on Spanish plates, has no spare wheel, tyre was ripped so no chance of using the gunk, Direct Line said her Spanish cover was not valid in the UK, eventually she got a mobile repair guy to fix the problem at 22:30 hrs last night, she was at Charnock Richards services, they stayed overnight in the dog friendly hotel, they are on their way to Scotland after leaving ours.
p.s. it took nearly 10 hrs for our daughter to sort out insurance etc, which Direct line UK said she did not have but Direct Line Spain said she did have, and it took 3 hours for the mobile repair guy to fix the puncture as he had to source a new tyre.
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Luckily for us by sheer coincidence we knew the breakdown guy from any years ago so he relented on the dog. It is a big concern on hot days when you cannot open the windows in the faulty vehicle. They brought the car back to the campsite and are collecting the car and the caravan tomorrow to take caravan to storage compound and car home.
On Monday they collect the car again to take to dealership for repair. Again by sheer coincidence we had a booking made last month with the dealership for another minor issue to be resolved. However this issue could be major as vehicle is totally dead.
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Yesterday morning we booked for collecting car and caravan from camping site and collection was for 11.02am as need to leave the site by 12pm. Just got a text to state that they are running late and they will be with us at 11.51am!
Must be costing the a lot of money in compensation plus the annoyance!
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They were 3 hours late on the Friday and over an hour late today. Also annoyingly they refuse to have the dog in the cab and we had to put her in the car on the flatbed. They could only open the two rear windows slightly and were unable to open the front windows. However the journey was only 2 hours long and the driver was kind enough to stop at the services so we could let our little dog out of the car for a breather. We then gave her a good soaking with water.
We pity anyone else with a dog that should have a breakdown over the next few days and the dog or dogs have to travel in the car.
Incidentally on the way home on the M5 we saw two caravans that had lost their wheels. South bound a Bailey and northbound a Lunar Quaser.
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