Breaking Down on the M1 Near Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes sits on fast roads

The M1 runs down the eastern side, the A5 cuts through, and the A421 links them. A large share of local recovery work happens on roads where traffic is doing seventy.

That changes the order of priorities. On a residential street, the car is the problem. On the M1, you are the priority and the car can wait.

Getting off the carriageway

If the car is still moving, keep left and start looking for somewhere to stop. The hard shoulder, an emergency refuge area, or the next exit if you can reach it.

Get as far left on the hard shoulder as you can, wheels close to the verge. Leave the steering turned to the left, so that if something strikes the car it is pushed away from live lanes rather than into them.

Hazards on immediately, day or night. Sidelights too in poor visibility.

Getting out safely

Everyone leaves through the passenger-side doors, away from traffic. Nobody stands between the car and live lanes, and nobody stands in front of or behind the vehicle.

Get behind the barrier and up the bank if there is one, and walk back along the verge so you are not level with the car. If something hits your vehicle, you do not want to be next to it.

Leave animals in the car unless there is an immediate danger. A loose dog on a motorway creates a second emergency.

Then ring for help, and tell them whether you are behind the barrier or still in the vehicle. It changes how urgent the job is.

Smart motorway sections with no hard shoulder

Parts of the M1 run as all-lane-running with no permanent hard shoulder. If you break down there, aim for an emergency area, marked with orange surfacing and a blue sign with an orange SOS phone symbol.

If you cannot reach one and the car has stopped in a live lane, do not get out into traffic. Stay belted in, hazards on, and ring 999 straight away. National Highways can close the lane above you with the overhead signs, which is something no recovery driver can do.

That is exactly the situation 999 exists for. It is not an overreaction.

How recovery from a motorway actually works

On a live motorway the traffic officers control the scene. A recovery driver cannot simply pull onto the hard shoulder and start loading in the middle of a problem.

So the sequence is always the same. Get safe, call for help, follow the instructions you are given. Once the vehicle can be reached and the scene is safe, it gets loaded and taken wherever you have decided it is going.

If the car is causing an obstruction, it may be moved to a safe place first and collected properly afterwards. That is normal and not something to resist.

Before any of this happens

Keep your phone charged, and keep a charger in the car. Know roughly where you are, by junction number if nothing else, because 'somewhere on the M1' costs everyone time.

The marker posts along the verge have a number and an arrow pointing to the nearest emergency phone. If you can read one, it tells the control room exactly where you are.

A hi-vis in the door pocket costs very little and makes a genuine difference on a dark night.

The A5 and A421 need a different approach

Single carriageway A roads around Milton Keynes are in some ways worse than the motorway. There is often no hard shoulder, the verges are soft, and traffic is doing sixty with oncoming vehicles rather than all travelling one way.

If you can reach a lay-by, a field entrance or a side road, take it even if it means driving a little further on a flat tyre. A ruined tyre is cheaper than being stopped in a live lane on an unlit stretch.

If you stop on the carriageway, get everyone out and well back from the road, on the verge side, and ring 999 if the car is somewhere traffic will not see it in time. Bends and brows are the dangerous ones.

Children, passengers and dogs

Children come out of the car with everyone else and go behind the barrier. It feels wrong to stand on a verge with small children in the cold, and it is still considerably safer than sitting in a stationary car beside live lanes.

Take the child seats with you if you are continuing by taxi or with someone else, because you will need them and the car may be going to a compound.

Dogs stay in the car unless there is immediate danger, with a window cracked. A loose dog on a motorway creates a second emergency and people have been killed trying to catch one. If the dog must come out, it comes out on a lead, through the nearside door, and goes behind the barrier with everybody else.

What National Highways actually do

On motorways and some major A roads, traffic officers can close lanes, slow traffic with the overhead signs, and provide a rolling block so a recovery can happen safely. A recovery driver cannot do any of that.

That is why a vehicle in a live lane is a 999 call rather than a recovery call. The road has to be made safe before anybody can get to you.

They may also move the vehicle a short distance to a safe place, or recover it themselves to a nearby compound, if it is causing a serious obstruction. If that happens you will be told where it has gone, and it can be collected from there afterwards.

Common questions