I had a semi breakdown the other day - a wheel started to make a strange noise and the brakes felt a bit dodgy plus the car started to smoke slightly. And the brake disks and wheels got hot. At first I thought I'd just got a bit of grit in the brake or something, but eventually the wheels locked up and it became hard to drive, so I called my breakdown company (AutoAid).

They sent out a local breakdown company who had a look at the car. He couldn't plug his computer in as he couldn't find the OBD port, so he just started the engine and drove backwards and forwards. Something went crack, and the front of the car sagged a bit, but started to move more easily. The breakdown man said I had a stone or something caught in the wheel, and should just drive the car, and the stone would come out. I started to drive the car down the drive, but the noises is made were so unpleasant I stopped the breakdown man and asked him to check again. He drove the car again, and said it was just a stone in the wheel and I should just drive it.

I said okay, if you're sure. And drove it. Got home okay (various horrible noises all the way), but thought I'd take it to a garage to be sure. On the way there, it became apparent that something in the suspension wasn't right, and the tyre was rubbing. It burst about 50m from the garage, so I just rolled the car the rest of the way. It turns out that the spring mount on the damper strut had rusted through, dropping the front of the car and causing the tyre to rub on the (now loose) spring until the tyre burst. It's also rubbed the back of my wheel, and possibly caused other damage. The bill is looking likely to be several hundred pounds.

I was just wondering if I have any redress against either AutoAid or the breakdown operator? I wouldn't have driven the car if he hadn't been so sure it was a just a stone that would work its way out. The slight trouble is that I don't have any paperwork from the breakdown chap as he didn't tow me anywhere. And I can't even remember the company name! However, Autoaid will have this on file, so I will complain to them to start with. But am I being unreasonable - I think the chap just took the easy way out to avoid having to work on my car in the rain and the wind. But it's possible it was a genuine misdiagnosis. Even if I'd spotted the suspension damage sooner, I think the damage to tyre and wheel would already have been done. I was wondering if they might pay for my tyre perhaps?