Since 1961 I've been with AA, then RAC, then Britannia.

Originally joined National Breakdown Recovery Club through Civil Service Motoring Association and stayed with them, later as Green Flag, after CSMA set up Britannia. At some point subsequently moved back to Britannia.

They've always been pretty good though last couple of times I used them I had a very long wait. On one I'd managed to get Berlingo with broken clutch into a bay urban road in late spring so probably lower priority than a parent/child/hard shoulder combo. Same on other when I couldn't get Roomster's wheel off the hub.

OTOH conversations with previous agents and with local indy is that penny pinching on rates has seen off local providers in favour of big outfits with economies of scale. Locally we'd get Freeways from up the road in Weedon or Westbridge who were right by the station. Westbridge were there for a flat battery on station car park before I'd got back from the payphone.

Both those companies are gone and it's been CMG every time in last six/seven years.

Britannia were started by the CSMA many years ago and were then sold off to LV. I dont understand why they didnt come out to your home if you have comprehensive like me with home start.

I can only assume when the term 'knocking' was used, they immediately thought, as did I, big ends gone!

They were wrong to not attend, even if the wording used was less than perfect for rough diagnosis so the right sort of breakdown vehicle attends.

The opposite can be true, in my previous work the company outsourced the breakdown cover and the standard of operator and communication between operator and the person sent to breakdown could not be more useless if you tried to make it so.

I've had starter failure on the truck filling pumps with a fully loaded truck, despite me saying, pleading almost do not send a van with jump pack no prizes for guessing what arrived and the same chap had to drive twenty miles back to fetch his wrecker in order to tow start.

I've had starter failure another time where i've managed to bump start the thing and keep it going all day (trying bump starting automated manual junk), and when i got it back to the pre booked agent he insisted on proving me wrong by producing his magic jump pack and saying abracableedingdabra, guess what it didn't start so he had to change the starter outside instead of inside in the warm.

Give the breakdown chap the phone number of the broken down vehicle to get the story direct? don't be silly, this is modern Britain, we are not all as dumb as those in suits who make these idiotic practices assume, lots of us have a decent idea of what's failed, a quick chat between the driver and person attending can often mean the correct likely parts being brought, or at least the correct vehicle attending.

The whole country is being systematically dumbed down, this will not end well for UK PLC.