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Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Whichcar

Hello all,

Just wondering if in a break down on a motorway in the UK and you have something important you need to get to, do you have to wait for a pick up truck to arrive or can the pick up truck just pick up your car without you being there?

Also if broken down on a motorway can and no way to get to where you need to be, ie no friends who can pick you up, can a taxi pick you up on a motorway or will a taxi driver refuse?

Also if your Dacia is broken down and it's still under warranty and it's outside business hours, can you ask the truck driver to drop it off at the nearest Dacia repair branch and then just call the Dacia branch first thing and just tell them it's my car in front of your dealership, please can you take a look at it?

Also if you are broken down on a motorway do the police or the highway maintenance come automatically to your aid quickly?

Edited by Whichcar on 12/12/2022 at 21:28

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Middleman

There's a handy little book called "The Highway Code". It is available online:

the_official_highway_code_-_27-07-2022.pdf (highwaycodeuk.co.uk)

Sections 270 onwards tell you all about what to do if you break down on the motorway. Nobody who is not authorised to do so (which includes taxis and friends) must stop to pick you up on a motorway.

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Brit_in_Germany

And as to the Dacia question, I thought that was standard practice, posting the keys in the letter box.

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Falkirk Bairn

Simplest solution is Breakdown Cover

I am with Green Flag - £60 gives me everything apart from European Cover

Other companies start at say £25 upwards

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Bromptonaut

Simplest solution is Breakdown Cover

I suspect the OP has breakdown cover.

His first question is around whether he can get a taxi to pick him up from the hard shoulder and abandon the car to be collected later.

The second is about what happens if the car is to be delivered to a repairer outwith trading hours.

The answer to the first is no. It would be an offence for a taxi (or anyone else) to pick up from the motorway. I suspect a car left unattended on the hard shoulder would also quickly attract attention from the Highways Agency's Traffic Officers and/or Police.

On the second I've found breakdown agents reluctant to drop off a car at closed premises even where there was access to off road space. Car was left at my place and towed in the next working day.

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Whichcar

Thanks, I have breakdown cover with RAC.

Just have a very important flight to catch and no other flights available, to go and see a sick relative so trying to decide wether to take a taxi to the airport or drive or if driving better not to use the motorway in case of a breakdown as more chance to still make the flight if broken down on a street than if on a motorway.

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Xileno

Do you have any reason to believe your car won't make the trip? Anything can go wrong, a taxi could breakdown, even a brand new car could get a puncture.

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Whichcar

I called led to let my insurance company know my car will be parked at airport for the 7 days and they said they need to know the terms and conditions its under while parked there ie if it got damaged etc etc or it may affect the policy

Anyone heard of this?

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Gerry Sanderson

Motorway Regs

7.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Regulation, no vehicle shall stop or remain at rest on a carriageway.

(2) Where it is necessary for a vehicle which is being driven on a carriageway to be stopped while it is on a motorway—

(a)by reason of a breakdown or mechanical defect or lack of fuel, oil or water, required for the vehicle; or

(b)by reason of any accident, illness or other emergency; or

(c)to permit any person carried in or on the vehicle to recover or move any object which has fallen onto a motorway; or

(d)to permit any person carried in or on the vehicle to give help which is required by any other person in any of the circumstances specified in the foregoing provisions of this paragraph,

the vehicle shall, as soon and in so far as is reasonably practicable, be driven or moved off the carriageway on to, and may stop and remain at rest on, any hard shoulder which is contiguous to that carriageway.

dvd

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Andrew-T

the vehicle shall, as soon and in so far as is reasonably practicable, be driven or moved off the carriageway on to, and may stop and remain at rest on, any hard shoulder which is contiguous to that carriageway.

I suspect since those Regs were issued this country has received several carriageways with no contiguous hard shoulder ?

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - Bromptonaut

I called led to let my insurance company know my car will be parked at airport for the 7 days and they said they need to know the terms and conditions its under while parked there ie if it got damaged etc etc or it may affect the policy

Anyone heard of this?

No.

I don't think there would be any issue with insurance and official airport parking on the airport and its surroundings. On the other hand there's plenty of dodgy business with dodgy operators of off airport parking. Cars left on streets, in fields or even used for mini-cabbing.

I can imagine that using the latter without due diligence might raise questions for an insurer.

Can a taxi pick you up on a motorway? - gordonbennet

I bet the insurer is also concerned about the likes of messrs bodgit and scarper's convenient airport parking plc dumping your pride and joy on someone's driveway for a week or two, when anything could happen to it...ie getting dragged unceremoniously down the road and left on a roundabout by an understandably irate homeowner whose action i would applaud.