What to Do If You Break Down on the Motorway
By Cheap Car Recoveries · Updated
Quick answer
If you break down on a motorway, leave at the next exit or services if you can. If not, pull onto the hard shoulder or into an emergency area, switch on your hazard lights, get out on the passenger side and wait behind the safety barrier. If you stop in a live lane, keep your seatbelt on, turn on your hazards and call 999 straight away.
1. Try to reach an exit or services
If your car is still moving and you feel safe, the best place to stop is off the motorway altogether — at the next junction or a motorway service area. It's far safer than stopping beside fast traffic, and much easier for a recovery truck to reach you.
2. If you can't, use the hard shoulder or an emergency area
Move onto the hard shoulder or, on motorways without one, into an emergency area. Emergency areas are marked with blue signs showing an orange SOS telephone, and have an orange road surface. Stop as far to the left as you can with your wheels turned to the left.
- Switch on your hazard warning lights (and sidelights in poor visibility or at night).
- Get everyone out through the passenger-side doors, away from the traffic.
- Wait behind the safety barrier, and up the bank if there is one — never in the car or in front of it.
- Leave animals in the vehicle, or keep them under proper control on the verge.
- Don't put a warning triangle on the motorway and don't try to repair the car yourself.
3. If you stop in a live lane
On some smart motorways there's no hard shoulder. If your car stops in a live lane and you can't get out safely, keep your seatbelt on, switch on your hazard lights and call 999 immediately. Only leave the car if you're certain you can get behind the safety barrier safely.
4. Call for help and tell them exactly where you are
Look for the small blue driver location signs at the side of the motorway — they show the motorway number, the direction and a distance reference. Together with the last junction you passed, this tells a recovery operator exactly where you are. In an emergency area, use the SOS phone to contact National Highways.
Then request your recovery. With Cheap Car Recoveries you can get an instant quote online, and the nearest available agent covering the M6, M5, M42, M6 Toll, M40 or M54 is sent to you.
5. Rejoining the motorway
If the problem is fixed and you're rejoining from the hard shoulder, build up speed on the hard shoulder first and watch for a safe gap before moving into lane one. Remember that other vehicles may be stationary on the hard shoulder ahead.
