ARWadsworth wrote:

One of the times I broke down was on the motorway. The police pulled up
behind me and warned me that I only had 1 hour to get off the hard shoulder
or they would arrange recovery for me and I would be billed for it. I am not
sure that if I am 200 or more miles away from home on a Mway that I would be
able to arrange recovery as easily as calling my breakdown company and
saying "help". So yes, the lack of a number bothers me when so far from
home.

I agree with you, that and the high motorway mileage I do each year is
why I have breakdown cover. The most likely faults to occur on the
vehicles I own would not be fixable at the side of the road. Good
maintenance covers the majority of the rest.

My only quibble with RAC/AA is that they are poor VFM and the other
recovery services offer better value and often superior call out times.