The emergency didn’t happen at a refuge, there was no hard shoulder, the driver was towing a caravan and there was no safe place to stand. We get messages like this every week, its only sheer luck they don’t end as badly as they could, do every time! You can’t “educate” a broken vehicle into working.
“….on Friday [7th August] I was towing my caravan northbound on the M6 near Sandbach services when I had a blowout in the middle of five lanes (if you include the slipway exit from the services) I had to pull over to the inside lane which is [All Lane Running – ALR] smart motorway and then stand for 30 minutes waiting for the police while I waved traffic into the other lanes . I can’t believe I’m still alive. If there’s anything I can do to support or add to your case, please let me know. I tried to climb over the barrier, but the sides were too steep and were covered in thistles and blackberry bushes with thorns.
As it was about 30°C I only had sandals and a light dress on and just couldn’t get up there. There was nowhere safe for me to stand. I had two cats with me and dragged their crate as far as I could before I went down to wave on traffic.”
