Share your car breakdown stories to win £25 Sainsbury’s Voucher
Breaking down in your car is never fun, but if you have children with you then it’s even less fun. The last time I broke down in my car was far from fun and actually was one of the last times that I ever drove to London. I vowed that from that day on I would catch the train to London and I have! When driving into an underground car park which I had parked in a thousand times before, I turned my wheel too soon after collecting my ticket and managed to hit the front wheel on a 6 inch high kerbstone and put a 4 inch split in my tyre. At the time I didn’t realise I had breakdown cover with my Car Insurance so I called out a tyre repair company who took 6 hours to get to me and charged me £250 for the privilege. On that day I had my friend with me and between us we had 3 children plus my friend was heavily pregnant, it was not a fun day. Imagine my disappointment when I later discovered that I had my own breakdown cover which would have made the whole experience so much less stressful!
Sainsburys want to make sure that you never have to wait around like I did for assistance and have produced a Guide to Car Breakdown Basics which advises you what to do if you end up stuck with a broken down car when out and about.
Now is your chance to win £25 Sainsbury’s Voucher. To be in with a chance of winning all you need to do is enter using the Rafflecopter Entry form below and tell me;
“What was your worst breakdown experience?”
87 Comments
Zoe G
September 13 at 9:06 am
We went camping last year in Cornwall, which is 280 mile trip one way, on the way back we had just got onto the start of the M5 by Exeter and the car broke down, we managed to crawl to the services on the hard shoulder, then we waited 2 hours for the breakdown service, and they took us home but because they can only work 4 hours on their taco, the guy had to stop after an hour as he had done his maximum work and someone else took over, in total it took us 10 hours to get home, the worst ever breakdown and we had our 2 kids with us. But they were surprisingly good and patient.
David Vessey
September 13 at 9:24 am
Worst for me was when I was learning to drive and started to panic because the chap behind kept flashing his lights. Turn out the car exhaust was hanging off and dragging along the road!
Hannah ONeill
September 13 at 9:57 am
My gearbox got stuck in 4th gear going 70 mph approaching a roundabout! A lorry driver moved my car onto the verge for me luckily and then a police car sat behind me as there was an accident on the other side of the roundabout!
Jo Hutchinson
September 13 at 10:12 am
When the car suddenly decided to die right on the entrance to the motorway a very nice lorry driver blocked the road to stop an accident and some lovely people pushed the car to a safe place until rescue arrived.
ANDREW PETRIE
September 13 at 12:22 pm
Many years ago on the M25 when we were going to Gatwick for a flight to France.The car overheated and by the time we got going it was too late and we missed the flight by 5 minutes.
Hele R
September 13 at 12:56 pm
We broke down with a 2 week old baby in the middle of Winter. He was lactose intolerant and so had special formula milk which we didn’t have. Luckily his Grandad saved the day!
Megan Bayford
September 13 at 1:01 pm
POURING RAIN ON THE M1, BANK HOLIDAY TRAFFIC!
Allan Smith
September 13 at 2:28 pm
Broke down and had to wait 4 hours for a tow.
Charlotte Ingham
September 13 at 2:42 pm
I’ve never broken down before….hope it stays that way!!
anthony harrington
September 13 at 3:22 pm
breaking down on the motorway, in the rain, in the dark no clue of where I was, years ago before mobile phones and no emergency phone boxes for several miles.
Rob Griffiths
September 13 at 4:45 pm
We were going to Bournemouth for the day in my friends Morris Traveller. We didn’t even make it to the end of my road.
Claire Smith
September 13 at 6:13 pm
Driving over a manhole cover and the suspension going in my beautiful little Renault 5. My 3 year old son being his usual helpful self suggested putting some more petrol in might sort it out!
Alison Joyce
September 13 at 9:13 pm
The battery dying just as we’d loaded up the car ready to go on holiday.
Rachael G
September 13 at 10:10 pm
We broke down in the winter in a car park, so luckily we were safe. The breakdown people took ages to get to us, but thankfully we made it home just in time to pick up our daughter from pre-school!
Lynsey Buchanan
September 13 at 10:41 pm
I Was on my way to an important interview when the car broke down. I did not make it there on time and I did not get a second chance to attend
Shelley Jessup
September 14 at 1:13 am
My story was long one but as short as possible – on way to interview & car wouldn’t brake it just kept going faster up to 65mph in a 40mph I but on my hassard lights on & hand on the horn to let people know I was in trouble, I was actually looking for a field to crash into as I had no control over the car & then it suddenly just stopped & in front of a garage too! The blokes had seen all the carry on & had come running over to me, one of them drove me to my interview & the other fixed my car. I had only been driving 2 weeks & had brought a 2nd hand car, I was 18 years old too. Something major had gone wrong with it & the bloke at the garage bless him only charged me £50 when it was actually a price of around £500 my dad said to me ‘I wish I was young & good looking to get discounts like that’ lol! I had a very lucky escape, got the job, got my car fixed on the cheap & got myself a date with the garage owner lol!
leanne williams
September 14 at 8:01 am
The battery dying just as we’d loaded up the car ready to go on holiday.
Kelly Koya
September 14 at 9:21 am
a punctured tyre 60 miles from where we were staying 60 miles from Amsterdam, on a Sunday, when nothing was open and knowing we had to leave for Germany the next day!
Kelly Koya
September 14 at 9:25 am
I’ve commented but I cant seem to see the rafflecopter on this page 🙂
IamMummyMatters
September 14 at 1:17 pm
You need to follow the link at the bottom of the post as the Rafflecopter is being run by Sainsburys and not myself x
Hilda Wright
September 14 at 3:59 pm
There was a fault with the bonnet catch and the bonnet flew up and smashed the windscreen while I was driving at 50 up in the hills. Instantly couldn’t see so had to do an emergency stop and hope I stayed on the road! There is no phone signal there so I tied the bonnet down with a bandage from the first aid kit and drove slowly home! It took a few hours for me to stop shaking!
Sue
September 14 at 4:48 pm
After going to garage earlier in day to say the battery light kept coming on..Later I went to a friends house, pulled up outside and the car died. My friend wasn’t home and I had to trek over a mile down a dark road to a phone box with 2 young kiddies. (before the days of mobiles..)
IamMummyMatters
September 14 at 8:10 pm
Always more frightening when you have children with you x
yolanda davis
September 14 at 4:53 pm
i was in labour with my first baby when the car broke down on the way to the hospital si i had to walk the rest of the way up a really steep hill whilst having painful contractions. after the birth the other half went off to get the car fixed before coming back to take baby and me home. it was december 1999 and it was snowing when we strapped the baby in her car seat and proudly set off home, but we didnt even make it out of the hospital carpark before breaking down again!! baby and i got a taxi and left dad to sort it out. it was a total nightmare but a funny story now.
IamMummyMatters
September 14 at 8:09 pm
Oh no that’s sounds horrific, I would have flipped at my Hubby if something like that had happened to us. I’m pleased that you can laugh about it now though x
esther james
September 14 at 8:31 pm
Breaking down on the way to work and having to argue with the green flag man to take us home
Mummy vs work
September 14 at 10:35 pm
On the way to work I ran out of petrol, on the hill of the petrol station. My other half told me there was enough to get me to work… Had to be pushed up the hill!
Cheryll H
September 15 at 12:28 pm
We broke down once, only a mile or so away from home, but we didn’t have a pushchair for our (then!) baby. Walking that far carrying a very heavy baby was NOT fun!
paula burnside
September 15 at 1:40 pm
I am very lucky and have never vroken down. (hope I haven’t jinxed myself)
Val swift
September 15 at 6:30 pm
New year eve/day my partner slid on black ice and buckled a wheel – anexpensive start to the year
Suzanne Cooke
September 15 at 8:06 pm
We had planned a trip through Glencoe, we had got half way through when the gears stopped working. It was pouring down by then and the breakdown took 2 hours to get to us and four hours to tow us home. NIghtmare.
Rachael Lines
September 15 at 8:28 pm
I have only one really bad memory as I was a child when it happened. My granddad was driving and I was in the passenger seat – in his old white mini metro. He went over some kind of bump and the whole windscreen just shattered in front of us. Like …PING!!! He pulled over and had to get a sheet from the back of the car to line the bonnet before pushing the glass outwards so he could drive home. I was petrified!! The car was freezing as we drove home and I was in such a state I could hardly walk when we got there. I was only about 9 ish, but its always haunted me 🙁 *shudders*
IamMummyMatters
September 15 at 11:45 pm
How frightening for you. My Mums screen shattered once but she was alone at the time. It really shook her up too 🙁
Beky Austerberry
September 15 at 9:38 pm
Dont drive so have never personally broken down, however been in several cars which have had smoke coming out of the bonnet!
Danielle Graves
September 16 at 2:07 pm
We bought a car off ebay and about 2 weeks later as we drove from Ripon to Leeds the radiator broke and it started to overheat so we had to pull over and wait to be towed. I was pregnant and desperate for a wee too!
Kate O’Neill
September 17 at 9:55 am
My worst was when my son was still a baby and it was dark out – I felt so vulnerable, especially as it was long before mobile phones were around.
Louise Smith
September 17 at 1:19 pm
I’d been to the supermarket with my mum to do all the christmas food shopping late at night on December 23rd. I took the short cut home across the moss which is a single track of unadopted road. I went over a bump and got a puncture. I had to phone my dad to come out as there was no lighting on the road. He came out with my uncle in the pouring rain and had to unload all the shopping from the boot to get to my spare tyre which was also flat. A journey which should have taken 10 minutes took over 2 hours. Not such a short cut after all! I now stick to main roads with lighting
Heather
September 17 at 5:07 pm
Worst for me was when we broke down in the middle of the fens and the breakdown lorry took 2hrs to get to us
angela sandhu (@angiesandhu)
September 17 at 7:00 pm
My sister was getting married to a guy (an idiot I must add) in a detention centre. We were on our way to the detention centre and it was pouring with rain and my dad’s car went all weird and made a few noises and stopped. Dad got out and did a few bits (God know what!) and we were still saying to my sister to rethink it. Well she ignored us and got married anyway.
faye huntington
September 18 at 9:54 pm
winter 2012, freezing cold with my elderly mother.. we split the tyre and ended up waiting for a looong time! To make matters worse, my mum was feeling terrible at having been distracted and split the tyre so I had an hour of my mother shouting in my ear to deal with as well!! with love, Faye xx
Christina Curtis
September 19 at 11:14 am
My 11 month old car decided to blow up whilst working miles from home – I was stuck had no idea what to do had no break down cover that I knew of. Luckily a friend told me all new cars come with some kind of recovery for 12 months! So luckily managed to get recovered but was such a long cold wait!
chazzkit
September 19 at 3:53 pm
On the side of a dual carriage way on the way to Devon for a short break .
The clutch went as driving at 60 moh down motorway , car slowly get dead and seeing if you can make it to the lay by . Rang my mum who’s car it was from Devon she sorted breakdown recovery from Dorset.
Waiting on dual carriage way with a 2 year old , having a disco and trying to keep her occupied .
2 hrs later recover came little miss freaked out screaming at the noise and hell of a journey to campsite in the dark in a recovery truck for 40 mins !!!
£800 pounds later 4 days later on way back to Dorset , expensive mini break
Julie Davies
September 19 at 7:57 pm
We broke down in Cornwall, in the middle of nowhere, in the days before mobile phones. We had no idea where we were and had to walk for about an hour until we came to a caravan site. We had to be taken 250 miles home on the back of a breakdown truck!
Amy Ripley
September 21 at 1:43 pm
We broke down on the way to my husband’s 30th birthday – we had to wait for hours and then be towed back home- total disaster!
MissMelvis
September 21 at 5:49 pm
When we were kids, my Mum drove and old red Fiesta and it broke down whilst going round a roundabout! We had to stay put in the car during rush hour traffic. Luckily a passing firetruck stopped and the firemen pushed us to safety! x
cheryl lovell
September 22 at 6:49 pm
I have never broken down 🙂
Honora
September 22 at 7:14 pm
Breaking down on my own on the top of the pennines on the way to family in Yorkshire. It was a snowy day and very misty. What was worst was when I got out of the car to deal with the green flag. My dog started on the Christmas Turkey!!!! Was devastated at the time, but now we laugh about it.
Diana
September 23 at 12:35 pm
I’m not driving :}
Stephanie Whitehouse
September 23 at 4:07 pm
My accelerator pedal stuck down, on the motorway, in fog. I was in the slow lane, but couldn;t see the phones far enough ahead to go into neutral and stop by one. So scary!
jjr0308
September 23 at 9:39 pm
In the middle of a roundabout 🙁 x
Jeremy Hards
September 24 at 8:11 am
Broke down at night in torrential rain. Took 3 or 4 hours for the rescue service to arrive. I saw the van go past several times and each time I called I was told that they had been unable to find me and assumed I had got started and not called in to cancel. They took down the details incorrectly hence were looking in the wrong place.
felicity morris
September 24 at 11:44 am
a tyre blow out on the M1 in the dark
Louise A
September 24 at 3:00 pm
Breaking down in bad ice but luckily wasn’t too far from home.
Valerie Thorpe
September 24 at 4:21 pm
Traveling from Southampton to Cornwall, got about half way there and the cam belt snapped. We were recovered back to Southampton and had to start the journey again in a different car 🙁
Gemma Snell
September 24 at 5:28 pm
I have never had a breakdown
Hello, I’m Helen (@TweetwithHelen)
September 24 at 7:18 pm
I live in North Yorkshire and broke down many years ago on a very rural road on the way to our local town. This was just as mobile phones came into being, I did have a mobile phone but my husband was using it that day, we shared it! I had to wait ages for a car to pass to flag down and help. It was freeeezing too.
Maggie Coates (@Pumpkin2k9)
September 24 at 8:33 pm
Once, when I had a flat tyre, I borrowed a jack from a total stranger and broke it.
Susan J Harrison
September 24 at 9:37 pm
An offside tyre blowout on a busy dual carrigeway meant that the police had to cordon off a lane so I could get the tyre changed
raj sandhu
September 24 at 10:58 pm
on my way to leeds fest, it’s pouring down with rain and my window wiper suddenly stops working, the linkage rod had broke!
Jane Middleton
September 24 at 11:33 pm
Broke down once in a thick fog – it was quite scary
cathryn1
September 25 at 5:27 am
We broke down on the way to the airport and nearly missed the flight
Kevin Bloomfield
September 25 at 7:03 am
Gear Box went – in the middle of nowhere before the days of mobile phones. Long walk 🙁
Paula Phillips
September 25 at 10:13 am
We had a flat tyre on a dual carriageway. A police car stopped and offered to help. The tyre wouldn’t pump up so we went to get the spare out of the boot.
The spare was also flat so the policeman said he would take my partner to the nearest garage to pump it up, my partner then shut the boot with the keys inside it.
Gillian Holmes
September 25 at 10:45 am
I have never broken down
cathy creighton (@Ruby6918)
September 25 at 10:56 am
On my way to see u2 in dublin car broke down on occonnell bridgemiddle lane!! Just me and my sister.in a pure panic.horns beeping road rage everywhere it was terrifying. A very kind lorry driver got iut and stopped the traffic and got other drivers to help push the car out of traffic and onto the curb.at one stage i thought some of the drivers were actually going to kill us! I had no breakdown cover and it cost me a fortune to get the car towed to a garage a pure nightmare.
Ann Weir
September 25 at 12:25 pm
I broke down at some really busy traffic lights when my petrol gauge kept telling me I had petrol when in fact I didn’t! Very embarrassing!
Kerry Jones
September 25 at 1:48 pm
Had a terrible experience travelling to start at uni. The van overheated and blew the head gasket, leaving me stranded with all my belongings in the back. I didn’t have recovery membership either
Emma Russell-Bennett
September 25 at 2:10 pm
Mine was being stranded with a flat battery at my uni train station after spending a lovely weekend at home. I was homesick, 200 miles from home, on a dark winter night.
Hayley
September 25 at 3:09 pm
I’ve luckily never broken down.
Shauna Ferguson (@SandysFerguson)
September 25 at 3:57 pm
Hubby got stuck in the snow in someones driveway and the pushed him off and left him alone! 🙁 It was freezing!!
Emma Lewis
September 25 at 4:14 pm
Having a tyre blow out on the motorway. Very scary!
Katy spence
September 25 at 7:48 pm
In the rain with my mum as a little girl with a crying baby sister!
Lisa Ellison
September 25 at 8:14 pm
I was working a night shift at asda which was 10 miles away from where I lived, I was doing 70 down the motorway surrounded by lorries when my car started to slow down voluntarily. (I had blown the engine) I had no breakdown and didn’t know who to call for for help. Luckily I had a hubby who knew what to do. lol
Diane
September 25 at 8:18 pm
I once locked my keys in the boot of my car in a very remote corner of the Welsh countryside. I had a long and rainy wait for the AA man to finally find me!
sam bailey
September 25 at 9:06 pm
Steering rack decided to snap whilst going round a roundabout, took me about 4 rounds of it before i could yank it straight to get off it!
Claire Bbdiva Butler
September 25 at 9:36 pm
i dont drive and cant remember any
Farhana Haque
September 25 at 9:42 pm
Yesterday, my car battery died after I left the lights on, thanks to the fog in the morning.
emily jayne
September 25 at 9:46 pm
On our way to cornwall, We had the car loaded right up. With our two babies, and border collie dog. We heard a huge bang, and had to stop on the side of a road as the smoke was very thick and would have caused an accident with other cars. The AA rescued us and fixed the “broken seal”. Luckily we had water bottles for the little ones, so the dog didn’t get dehydrated! 🙂 xx
Lani Nash
September 25 at 9:53 pm
I do not drive
sarah parker
September 26 at 6:33 am
I broke down when I was 8 months pregnant and on my on 🙂
Janet Dring
September 26 at 7:43 am
Our car broke down at Flamborough Head lighthouse last year, there was myself, my husband and our 2 children and we had to wait about 2 hours for the recovery vehicle to arrive.
Vickypinkxx (@Vickypinkxx)
September 26 at 8:42 am
Breaking down in the middle of nowhere just before the Motorway with 2 toddler boys while 7 months pregnant with #3 – then waiting 4hrs for the AA & then another 2hrs for a tow truck! Truly awful!
Hannah Whitling
September 26 at 8:49 am
Me and my mum were on the way to a concert in another city, and we were on the motorway when the car started sounded weird, then suddenly lost power. We ere able to get onto the hard shoulder before the car stopped moving. It was the busiest time for lorries, and the hard shoulder was on the narrow side, so every lorry that wet past rocked the car really badly, I haven’t felt as unsafe in my life as I did that day. We were fortunate that the car started again after 20 minutes and we were able to get off the motorway until the breakdown service could arrive.
Holly Detre
September 26 at 8:49 am
Touch wood – I have never had a break down.
laura avery
September 26 at 11:04 am
Blow out on the motorway with 2 children and pregant , very scary!
Adele Hill
September 26 at 4:40 pm
I broke down in the middle of nowhere late at night, in the days before mobile phones were the norm. I had to walk along country lanes with no lighting to find a phone for about 1 hour and then the AA told me to walk back to the car and they would meet me there. By the time I had walked back the AA man was waiting for me. As I often travelled alone at night I went out and bought a mobile phone the next day.
Maureen Millward
September 26 at 8:58 pm
I broke down aged 17 in the dark and rain and in the days before mobile phones, it took me ages to track down a phone and 3 hours for someone to come and rescue me 🙁