came down the M4 today at 07 30 and spotted a lorry had left the motorway and gone into a field,my deliveries today were hove west sussex,and bracknell on the way back,came out of bracknell at 1500 to find the westbound side at a standstill,the reason for this was the recovery of the crashed lorry,they closed 2 lanes about 3 to 400 yards from JCT 11 causing said tailback,i took over an hour to get to the scene of the recovery,my question is why could they not recover the vehicle in the early hours under lighting when the motorway was quiet,i do not know enough about recovery,and they had their reasons for doing said recovery in daylight but it caused a hell of a jam stretching back to JCT8/9,it took some drivers over 2 hours to get passed the scene,maybe someone in recovery could explain why it was done during a busy period ,this is not a dig at recovery operatives because i do think they do a good job, i would just be interested in finding out why its done during the day,so i can understand for future reference
My boss would like to know why it took so long too, it was one of ours. It crashed at 0500 and took 3 wreckers 13 hours to get it out
When your boss gets the bill for 3 wreckers X 13hrs he’ll understand 
P.S. We’re all in the wrong business.
OVLOV JAY:
My boss would like to know why it took so long too, it was one of ours. It crashed at 0500 and took 3 wreckers 13 hours to get it out
they need to make the payments on the bling bling rotators 
Those things cost as much as a bolt hole in st tropez. It’s not surprising they charge £500 for hooking it and the first ten miles
3 wreckers ? 13 hours ? This bill could get close to 6 figures.
Skippy70:
3 wreckers ? 13 hours ? This bill could get close to 6 figures.
Er, not sure about 
I think the bill will be under 5 figures
Biggest bill I ever saw was £24k, 30’ below the road down an embankment & rolled on it’s side, full of domestic fridges.
It took 2x rotators, 2x winch’s, 1x airbag unit, 1x sliding axle recovery trailer, 1x 40’ curtainsider + unit for load transfer, 1x RT forklift & 8 blokes 6hrs to recover. I remember it well 'cos it was a Saturday night/Sunday morning & it was pi$$ing it down with a vengeance.
My share was £400.
Don’t forget that the recovery prices are fixed these days. If it was arranged by the police or highways then they have a fixed price table. If I remember right artic off road , upright and loaded is about £2500. If its on its side then it goes up to around £5000. Highways should have the info. if anyone is interested.
Hope your driver escaped unscathed.
I just google mapped the exact distance I was recovered once after a breakdown 4.9 miles from where I was to where the Recovery yard was. So 9.8 mile round trip I was hitched up within 20min max and your looking around 20 minute drive each way so just over an hour maybe an hour 15 min final bill £290. Good luck with that 3 reccas x 13 hours ■■■■ that bill!.
I suppose with recovery though that one lorry could be sat in the yard all day and they need to make there money in one hit they may not have that one lorry doing 10 jobs a day.
rgt1973:
Don’t forget that the recovery prices are fixed these days. If it was arranged by the police or highways then they have a fixed price table. If I remember right artic off road , upright and loaded is about £2500. If its on its side then it goes up to around £5000. Highways should have the info. if anyone is interested.
That’s a spot on post 
google.co.uk/url?sa=t&sourc … 7636,d.d2k
There did seem to be a bit of a phase of certain recovery operators ‘dragging’ jobs out rather than clearing the motorway as they were time paid rather than job paid.
Remember if it’s your truck upside down in a field it’s probably cheaper to leave it to statutory removal than to organise your own recovery, but if it is fully outside the highway boundary the police can stat remove but the highways cannot under legislation they have to give the landowner 2 weeks.
OVLOV JAY:
My boss would like to know why it took so long too, it was one of ours. It crashed at 0500 and took 3 wreckers 13 hours to get it out
bloody hell,he is looking at a big bill then,plus the repairs to the wagon,i expect he wont be a happy chappy for a while
Unit and trailer were written off
Lucky it was in the uk, we had a breakdown in France and the bill just for recovery (20kms) was £2200, I won’t mention how much the total was including the new clutch 
I blame the car driver…
The recovery bill was 7k. Now the truck is at the recovery company and we’ve got to go and re stack and tranship the load. Recovery firm want £50 per hour to use their fork lift and won’t let us take our own in there. What a racket
hope the driver was ok jay nice to see you back on here as well dont see you on here much
The drivers ok. Bit shaken understandably and signed off for 2 weeks. He’s only a newbie too