Had a blow out on the M40 today and the wombles turned up and saw it was ok that a lane didn’t need shutting and I was out of the truck they were on their way. The fitter came out after about an hour and half of me calling our garage at work.
Whilst fitting my tyre he explained to me a new thing The Highways Agency are forcing in by next year and they haven’t told anybody that they are only allowing 30mins for either a tyre fitter to come out or mechanic if you have broken down and if they haven’t turned up after 30mins they are going to send out for recovery and there is nothing you will be able to do about it.
If this is true then I think it’s a joke as there are going to be a hell of a lot of rich recovery firms going to be taking it in, maybe they’ll be in cahoots with the HA and split their earnings? 
When was the last time anyone on here had someone turn up within 30 mins to try and get you on your way? I bet hardly ever. It’s usually an hour or just over the average for a call out.
3 hours the last time.
Surely if you say “Nope, you’re not towing me” they can’t shift you? What are they going to do, drag you out the truck?
A.
Adonis.:
3 hours the last time.Surely if you say “Nope, you’re not towing me” they can’t shift you? What are they going to do, drag you out the truck?
A.
No doubt the old bill will get involved then. They probably do or will have the authority to get you moved on by any means necessary if what the tyre fitter said is true and I saw no reason not to belive him.
Maybe it’s because of all the live running lanes they are making and getting rid of the hard shoulder that is the reasoning behind it?
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
No doubt the old bill will get involved then. They probably do or will have the authority to get you moved on by any means necessary if what the tyre fitter said is true and I saw no reason not to belive him.
Maybe it’s because of all the live running lanes they are making and getting rid of the hard shoulder that is the reasoning behind it?
Doubt it.
“Why aren’t you moving?”
“Because the tyre fitter is sitting in a 7 mile tailback because someone has ran out of petrol in lane 1 (previously the hard shoulder) and caused carnage.”
Even if they do how you away, the tyre fitter will get to do his job in peace rather than nearly being flattened by ignorant tubes.
A.
Rubbish! The recovery driver is pulling your wire!
The agreement with HE and the recovery firms is 2 hours to have the vehicle removed. Although there are certain places if you breakdown where they will arrange stat recovery straight away, usually for safety reasons about the location. Even then they would try to get you to move the vehicle if possible so as to be out of that particular spot.
Another time would be if it was dark and you had no lights showing, but even then they’d do their best to chase up your own recovery whilst they waited behind you.
Reading the posts again, what I’ve said above is true at the moment, but what has been mentioned about “All lanes running” and “Smart motorways” with only small’ish “Refuge areas” you never know…!
Adonis.:
3 hours the last time.Surely if you say “Nope, you’re not towing me” they can’t shift you? What are they going to do, drag you out the truck?
A.
Also, if you took that line, they would call the police as well as the stat recovery, then you’d be done, and recovered whether you liked it or not.
The real Biffo:
Adonis.:
3 hours the last time.Surely if you say “Nope, you’re not towing me” they can’t shift you? What are they going to do, drag you out the truck?
A.
Also, if you took that line, they would call the police as well as the stat recovery, then you’d be done, and recovered whether you liked it or not.
Yeah, probably jailed too for the crime of having a puncture and waiting for the tyre fitter.
A.
true or not I am taking no chances ,I’d have it changed before the wombles arrive .
Question for the real biffo, can we be charged if a lane needs closing, Mcalpines last week tried to charge us 1500 quid to close a lane for the tyre fitter, told them we werent paying and the proper highways fellas turned up and said they didnt charge and Mcalpines did as they were a private company working for the H/A ( you know the ones i mean, big vans were they do the grass cutting as well as attending accidents)
Bad enough losing half a days revenue and the cost of a tyre callout without getting a bill for the road being closed !
chaversdad:
Question for the real biffo, can we be charged if a lane needs closing, Mcalpines last week tried to charge us 1500 quid to close a lane for the tyre fitter, told them we werent paying and the proper highways fellas turned up and said they didnt charge and Mcalpines did as they were a private company working for the H/A ( you know the ones i mean, big vans were they do the grass cutting as well as attending accidents)Bad enough losing half a days revenue and the cost of a tyre callout without getting a bill for the road being closed !
If you’re safely on the hard shoulder and it’s a HE road that is patrolled by HATOs, then it’s best to first get your tyre fitter on route with an ETA, once you know that ETA, call in to the HE phone line 0300 123 5000, better still, use the ERT phone give them your exact location. (If you can markerpost location, bridge number etc) pass on your fitters ETA and that you’ll probably need a lane closure.
A patrol will attend as soon as possible around the time of your fitter. (Live lane incidents & RTCs take priority) if the vehicle can move up a bit so that a lane closure is not required then they’ll get you to do that.
To answer your question, HE don’t charge for closing a lane for a tyre change, and you’re right to question McAlpines. If however you’d broken down on a trunk road that is covered only by contractors like McAlpines and not HATO, it would be the police who you would need to contact for a lane closure.
Cheers Biffo , bit of a grey area as it was the A168 , Mcalpines turned up claiming it was “there road” and half an hour after we told them ■■■■ off as we werent paying the Hato,s turned up and asked if we needed help, told them we were still waiting for the tyre fitter to arrive so they left us with a phone number , tryre man arrived and said ■■■■■■■■ to waiting and just got on and did the job 
All very confusing
So, let’s get this straight, let’s say I have a brake chamber fail and lock on the trailer. Phone the fitter up, he gives an eta of 60mins. Highways turn up, and at 30 mins a recovery truck turns up to remove you. Obviously there just being paid to hook up and drag. So they do so, destroying the said tyre on the effected wheel. Who pays for the 300 quid premium brand tyre which had 13mm of tread on it. That’s now destroyed?
philgor:
So, let’s get this straight, let’s say I have a brake chamber fail and lock on the trailer. Phone the fitter up, he gives an eta of 60mins. Highways turn up, and at 30 mins a recovery truck turns up to remove you. Obviously there just being paid to hook up and drag. So they do so, destroying the said tyre on the effected wheel. Who pays for the 300 quid premium brand tyre which had 13mm of tread on it. That’s now destroyed?
Did the brake chamber fail there and then, or have you already destroyed the tyre whilst pulling over? 
Evil8Beezle:
philgor:
So, let’s get this straight, let’s say I have a brake chamber fail and lock on the trailer. Phone the fitter up, he gives an eta of 60mins. Highways turn up, and at 30 mins a recovery truck turns up to remove you. Obviously there just being paid to hook up and drag. So they do so, destroying the said tyre on the effected wheel. Who pays for the 300 quid premium brand tyre which had 13mm of tread on it. That’s now destroyed?Did the brake chamber fail there and then, or have you already destroyed the tyre whilst pulling over?
Brake chamber let go slowly, so brake smoking, come to a halt with tyre intact
philgor:
Evil8Beezle:
philgor:
So, let’s get this straight, let’s say I have a brake chamber fail and lock on the trailer. Phone the fitter up, he gives an eta of 60mins. Highways turn up, and at 30 mins a recovery truck turns up to remove you. Obviously there just being paid to hook up and drag. So they do so, destroying the said tyre on the effected wheel. Who pays for the 300 quid premium brand tyre which had 13mm of tread on it. That’s now destroyed?Did the brake chamber fail there and then, or have you already destroyed the tyre whilst pulling over?
Brake chamber let go slowly, so brake smoking, come to a halt with tyre intact
Fair enough, I didn’t know!
Punchy Dan:
0true or not I am taking no chances ,I’d have it changed before the wombles arrive .
Fair play to you, not many owner drivers never mind drivers doing that nowadays! Maybe the odd European driver with a spare for the trailer etc but for obvious cost reasons.
As for initial topic think the average response time for the main manufacturers roadside assistance arms’s is around an hour.
Dafaid claims: “The fastest response in the industry - average time from first call to vehicle moving just 96 minutes. Average response time 44 minutes”.
Ultimately the roads in the UK are getting more and more congested and instead of not very smart ideas (if true obviously) similar to the one the opening poster mentioned. The UK’s roads really need a lot more investment to match the growing economy and population or it will continue to get worse for everyone.
If I come across a wagon waiting for a tyre fitter to attend, I tend to give the driver my patrol mobile number and get them to give me a call when they have a definite time for the tyre fitter arriving. 9 times out of ten, the fitter is usually only 10-15 minutes away, I do a quick loop back to the previous junction and wait for the call. 
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
Had a blow out on the M40 today and the wombles turned up and saw it was ok that a lane didn’t need shutting and I was out of the truck they were on their way. The fitter came out after about an hour and half of me calling our garage at work.
Whilst fitting my tyre he explained to me a new thing The Highways Agency are forcing in by next year and they haven’t told anybody that they are only allowing 30mins for either a tyre fitter to come out or mechanic if you have broken down and if they haven’t turned up after 30mins they are going to send out for recovery and there is nothing you will be able to do about it.
If this is true then I think it’s a joke as there are going to be a hell of a lot of rich recovery firms going to be taking it in, maybe they’ll be in cahoots with the HA and split their earnings?
Jeeez they are pushing it ,you ay as well going for a straight recovery ,DAFaid go for 45 mins get on scene,if you can make I tell the call centre and they will inform the customer…Now DAFaid is meant to be the best so depending on time of day and where you have broken down.especially down south 45 mins will be impossible never mind 30 mins
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
Had a blow out on the M40 today and the wombles turned up and saw it was ok that a lane didn’t need shutting and I was out of the truck they were on their way. The fitter came out after about an hour and half of me calling our garage at work.
Whilst fitting my tyre he explained to me a new thing The Highways Agency are forcing in by next year and they haven’t told anybody that they are only allowing 30mins for either a tyre fitter to come out or mechanic if you have broken down and if they haven’t turned up after 30mins they are going to send out for recovery and there is nothing you will be able to do about it.
If this is true then I think it’s a joke as there are going to be a hell of a lot of rich recovery firms going to be taking it in, maybe they’ll be in cahoots with the HA and split their earnings?
Can you set the scene Steve. Was your truck fully on the H/S on a “Normal” stretch of motorway? or was it in a refuge layby on a “Smart motorway”? or was it into a live running lane?