mayday rescue horror end holiday well and truly

[michele_374371437]

after flooding in cornwall. a ruined awning. we got a blow out on tha caravan on the m4 at 1.40 in the morning on the way home.

we called mayday they were prompt there within 25 mins.( sent a local garage out not green flag)

they refused to change it on the motorway they wonted to take it to hounslow we said no to far so they dicided to go to an industral nearby.

they tryed to get it on their lorry ( by putting a winth round jockey wheel) was shocked and said they would broke it so we had to help them push it on the lorry ( my kids had to stand on there own the other side of the crash barrier in the dark) didnt ask once if they were ok.

on the side of the road by a really busy sorting office they tryed to change the wheel while it was on there lorry.

we stayed in the car with the kids after a while i went to see how they were doing they were trying to jack it up while the hitch was still connected to tow ball on the flat bed lorry using a massive jack on the frame it was growning under the strain.

they then dicided to do it on the ground they tipped the front of the caravan up so high we thougnt the pushchair was going to go through the back window.

to get it off the lorry they let the hand brake off and gave it one big shove (recovery man pushed so hard he put hand straght through front of the caravan)with only me trying to stop it they broke the jockey wheel in two and smashed the foot off it. when they only had one jack (to big to fit under the caravan) they jacked it on the frame again we asked them to stop but they just wonted to get it done and admitted they never done a caravan before.

4 hours later they said it was done and they got in there lorry and drove off. the poor caravan lumped and banged the whole way home we use a bulldog stabalizer on it, it lumped all way back.

at home the shock of what they done set in. they bent the hitch cracked the shower tray the window has cracks everwere greasey hand marks plus the rest.

phoned mayday and they think that they may have bent the frame are going to sent an acessor out.

what should we do?

 

[Lord Braykewynde]

Well if I was you michelle, after that experience and the Treamble Valley soaking I think I would stay at home :O(

Sorry to hear about your holiday from hell.

 

[Allyson]

Hi Michele

So sorry to hear of your bad experience.

I know what it's like to breakdown on the M4 with children, I think we waited just over on a Saturday morning for someome to come out and change off side caravan wheel have a blow out.

We thought they would have picked the caravan up and we would have followed to the next services where they could have changed the wheel safely.

But they didn't they closed the middle lane and changed it there and then.

It was pouring with rain and the speed of the traffic was very frighting.

Good luck with your claim against Green Flag I'm sure you have a good case. I would also contact your insurance company and ask for their advice.

Do you have legal advice with your car or caravan or house insurance?

Remember to take down names and the time you spoke to them this could help your case later on down the road.

Good luck

Allyson

 

[michele_374371437]

going were the sun shines next year no holiday in uk for us?

 

[Allyson]

We went to North Devon last year and Cornwall the year before that, weather the same as this year, drove us mad.

Came home early last year due to all the rain running underneath awning.

Went to France this year for 17 nights, 2 morning showers and lots of sunshine.

Just booked again for next year for 21 nights.

Allyson

 

[MartinJ]

Hi Michelle

What a horror story. Sound advice from Allyson though - I would put it all in the hands of your insurers. Thats what you pay for.

We also did a similar thing to Allyson and headed south into France in search of some sun after 2 wet weeks in Cornwall last year. 340 miles driving in France was well worth it after 2 glorious weeks in the Loire.

Good luck whatever you do and keep us posted.

Martin.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

So sorry to read of your awful experience and hope that you get satisfaction and aren't put off caravanning

Just to say that we recently had a wheel come off the van and the service from RAC was exceptionally good

They were at the scene,fortunately daylight and sunny, very quickly and the RAC man was a caravanner

The wheel disappeared probably into the canal but the spare was available and I luckily carry spare bolts as the others had been lost

I rang through on the car RAC by mistake rather than the C & CC Arrival that covers the van but they just fixed the van etc before my mistake was realised

It also was left attached to the car but that is how Alko recommend jacking for safety reasons anyway

The RAC man then drove with me up and down the road looking for the wheel but sadly to no avail

 

[Gumbo]

John

Why did your wheel fall off ???????????

 

[Guest]

Sounds appalling, really.

Since you were using Mayday, I'd take it up with the Caravan club - presumably they sold you the breakdown policy?, and they have the duty of care to ensure that the provision is of an acceptable standard.

The reason why the wanted to recover you off he motorway was not to do with safety - the franchised garage can claim a lot more from Green Flag is a recovery, rather than a simple wheel change, is involved.

They treated your property with contempt - and I hope you get back every penny, plus something for your trouble and inconvenience (although the complexity of pursuing the claim and proving that they caused the damage, might necessitate you simply making a claim on your caravan insurance - which isn't fair, but might be the simplest option)

Best of luck.

 

[michele_374371437]

hi if we had of done the blowout ourselves we would have left the van attached to the car but the idiot recovery mans jack was so big it was lifting the whole caravan off the ground (usually carry small bottle jack with us but towed with new car and forgot it left it in the old car at home oops)wont forget it next time.

 

[michele_374371437]

Sounds appalling, really.

Since you were using Mayday, I'd take it up with the Caravan club - presumably they sold you the breakdown policy?, and they have the duty of care to ensure that the provision is of an acceptable standard.

The reason why the wanted to recover you off he motorway was not to do with safety - the franchised garage can claim a lot more from Green Flag is a recovery, rather than a simple wheel change, is involved.

They treated your property with contempt - and I hope you get back every penny, plus something for your trouble and inconvenience (although the complexity of pursuing the claim and proving that they caused the damage, might necessitate you simply making a claim on your caravan insurance - which isn't fair, but might be the simplest option)

Best of luck.

hi you are right we have got to prove the damage caused.

we broke down in our gallaxy towing last year (engine mount broke)and we were given a green flag form with all the delails on it about the car and caravan i had to sign and date it and they kept one copy.

this time was given nothing they drove off they were true cowboys.

 

[WatsonJohnG]

Gumbo

The bolts unscrewed but why I will never really know

I always check them before every trip with a torque wrench and they were checked the night before in 2 different positions on the drive

I don't know if they were tampered with overnight by someone to remove the Alko wheel clamp to steal the van or what

Certainly I remember the Alko unscrewed very easily with none of the usual tightness that happens when the van has settled

I only travelled 12 miles

We did have a visit from a lady the day before who asked if we would buy from a gypsy lady !!

Nobody at the dealers or insurance seem surprised and they all say that its always the nearside wheel and the dealer said that we usually send the axle back to Alko which they have done with ours

I stopped to help a man 20 years ago and his nearside wheel had come off and was inside his kitchen cupboard

Since then I have always been quite obsessive about checking with a torque wrench before each trip and we have caravanned for 40 years

I can't blame the dealer as I know that I torqued the bolts up the night before

 

[colin(bridgend)]

We had a similar problem with wheel loss on our van - guess what - near side wheel. Van was write off. we experienced no end of problems with Green Flag and in the end I had to threaten them with the insurance ombudsman and even then we were not fully recompensed. Saga insurance however were brilliant in the whole episode. We then cancelled Green Flag and transferred to RAC via Caravan & Camping Club. So far thankfully have never had the call to use them

 

[Guest]

We did have a visit from a lady the day before who asked if we would buy from a gypsy lady !!⇦br/>

Well, therein lies the moral of the tale

The next time a member of a non-specific ethnic minority comes knocking, make sure you buy the lucky heather.

Perhaps she was unable to guarantee good luck - but had the power to guarantee bad luck

There might even be an ancient non-specific ethnic minority curse that specifically affects wheel nuts - I know for a fact that there is one particularly powerful invocation that can make entire caravans vanish into thin air.....

 

[WatsonJohnG]

We did have a visit from a lady the day before who asked if we would buy from a gypsy lady !!⇦br/>

Well, therein lies the moral of the tale

The next time a member of a non-specific ethnic minority comes knocking, make sure you buy the lucky heather.

Perhaps she was unable to guarantee good luck - but had the power to guarantee bad luck

There might even be an ancient non-specific ethnic minority curse that specifically affects wheel nuts - I know for a fact that there is one particularly powerful invocation that can make entire caravans vanish into thin air.....

It was the doilies that we didn't buy!!

 

[colin(bridgend)]

A few years ago we visited Brittany and at an outdoor market my wife asked the price of a small elephant ornament as a present for a friend who collected them. The price was ridiculous for a paper mache figure approx 6ins. high. The stall was being run by a couple from central Africa. As my wife walked away the female stall holder mumbled something in her native tongue at my wife. Ever since then my wife has been plagued with ill health. So could there be something in casting spells, etc. WHO KNOWS!!!!!

 

[Gareth111278]

Thats a BAD story Michele.

There is NO way the Green-Flag contractor should have treated yout caravan like that. I used to work for a Green Flag contractor so i know a little about it. So far as i know GF don't have any of thier own recovery vehicles so its quite normal for a contractor to come out.

Selwyn, I think you are incorrect on the recovery thing, the contractors callout includes 30 miles local towing.

The location chosen to do the wheel change sounds less than ideal but the methods used sound barbarian!

Was the caravan still strapped to the bed of the truck when they jacked it? This would bend the chassis.

I would have left it on the truck, still attached to the ball hitch on the bulkhead but with all other staps off. Its easier to do a wheel change working at this height. Once the wheel was changed he should have used the winch to very slowly lower the caravan off the truck. The most important thing is not to alow the rear of your caravan to foul the floor.

Just letting it go was savage, i hope you get a new caravan out of this.

Any more info you might need on road side recovery, just ask

Gareth

 

[michele_374371437]

hi thanks for your reply.

the caravan was still strapped to the flat bed lorry when they tried to change the tyre.

didnt think we would have to stand over them and watch them.

the blowout was on the nearside and was on the pathside when they tried to change it so they had to turn the lorry round so it was out in the road (went round roundabout with it strapped on one side only )couldnt bear to look.

popped into local dealer sat morning have agreed to look at the van today still got to get it there the hitch is so badly bent cant tow it will be calling mayday to see what they have got to say .

 

[Gareth111278]

They should never have moved with only one side strapped, i've done it with cars on very narrow hard shoulders, just to get to a wider part so i could get on the off side to strap down. But a caravan being so big AND going round a roundabout.....mental!

So long as they didn't jack the side that was strapped they might not have bent the chassis.

However your description of the unloading of the caravan probably has bent the chassis.

At the end of the day it was OK before they worked on it.

I'd ring Mayday and tell them what happened and where the caravan is now, get them to sort it out with the dealer. Inspect any work done carefully, don't take the caravan home if you're not 100% happy.

Hope it all goes Ok

Gareth

 

[Chrisbee]

Friday morning last week I was due to come home from a lovely CL in West Sussex after taking the grand daughters on their first caravan trip. Unfortunatly the car would not start and I ended up being recovered by Britania Rescue. It was excelent service, caravan parked on my drive then the car taken to my local dealer. Nothing was too much trouble for the recovery driver. The girls thought it was a great end to the trip, they'd never been in a lorry before.

 

[michele_374371437]

what a day yesterday took caravan to dealer using green flag they said no problem with taking it there or BACK.

loaded all ok and off he went.

at the dealers the winch failed on lorry and off the van went again.

no damage this time.

impossible to get new front and shower tray new window over

 

[WatsonJohnG]

So sorry to read of your situation

Hope that you get it sorted out

If you are a member of CC or C & CC I would approach them for guidance

 

[michele_374371437]

So sorry to read of your situation

Hope that you get it sorted out

If you are a member of CC or C & CC I would approach them for guidance

hi yes we are members of cc and mayday break down cover was taken through cc but green flag came out and have to complain via them.

do feel that the club should take responabillaty for the damage as they offered the cover.not green flag.

cc said they can only monitor situation.

fat lot of help on our own on this one.

 

[weejock]

I would as previous post has said contact the cc. Failing that I would inform your own insurance company as at some point in this saga you may have to make a claim.

Please now go and write down everthing that you have witnessed and all your telephone conversation's. Also note all times and if it is on the phone with whom you have spoken.

I really do feel that if you cannot get any where with these people in the next few days you will have to go to your insurers as they hate it when people are late in notifying them of claim's.

I am also quite sure that the insurance companies legal team will achieve a settelement faster for you.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

hi michele

the important thing is to NOT TOUCH ANYTHING leave it mucky paw marks and all.

keep the receipt with the recovery no on it and inform your van insurance about the damage straight away.

if the chasis is bent the van will be a write off.

good luck but aleast you will recover the cost of the damage as the recovery service will have 3rd party insurance.

colin