Is it safe to wait in my car on the motorway?

Not usually. If you can, get out by the left-hand doors, climb over the barrier and wait up the bank, well away from the traffic. If you can’t get out safely, stay in the car with your seatbelt on and hazard lights on, and call 999.

How do I tell you where I am on a motorway?

Read us the motorway, the direction you’re travelling, and the letter and number on the nearest small blue driver location sign. Or tap “Send my location” on this site to share it straight from your phone.

I’ve stopped in a live lane on a smart motorway. Who do I call first?

Call 999. A live lane breakdown is an emergency, and the control room can close the lane and send help. Once the lane is protected, or your car has been moved somewhere safer, call us to take it the rest of the way.

Will National Highways move my car?

If your car is blocking a live lane, National Highways traffic officers or the police may move it to a safer place first. From there, we can recover it to your home or garage.

Motorway Car Recovery | M25, M1, M4, M11 and M40, 24/7

Motorway recovery

Broken down on the M25 or a motorway into London? We recover cars from hard shoulders, emergency areas and slip roads.

The M25 and every motorway into London

Hard shoulders, emergency areas and slip roads

Tolls and crossing charges included in the price

A breakdown at 70 mph is the most frightening kind. The good news is that once you’re safely behind the barrier, the hard part is over: call us, tell us where you are, and we’ll come and take the car off the motorway.

Motorways we cover

All of them around London, from the first junction to the M25 and beyond:

M25, every junction, in both directions, including the approaches to the Dartford Crossing
M1 from Staples Corner, past London Gateway services and out to the M25
M4 from the Chiswick flyover, past Heathrow and out towards Reading
M40, picking up where the A40 Western Avenue leaves London
M11 from Charlie Brown’s Roundabout in South Woodford
M3, M23, M20 and M2, and the A3, A23, A20 and A2 that feed them
A1(M) from South Mimms northwards

We’ll also bring your car back to London from much further away. See long-distance recovery.

What to do, in order

Move left. Signal and get onto the hard shoulder, into an emergency area, or off at the next junction or services if the car will get you there.
Hazard lights on. Sidelights too, if it’s dark or foggy.
Get out on the left, away from the traffic, and get everyone behind the barrier. Leave animals in the car.
Call for help. If you’re stuck in a live lane, call 999 first. Otherwise, call us, or send your location on WhatsApp.

Don’t try any repairs, and don’t put a warning triangle out on a motorway: walking along the hard shoulder is too dangerous.

Smart motorways

Long stretches of the M25, M1, M3, M4, M20 and M23 near London are smart motorways, where the hard shoulder has been turned into a running lane, either all the time or at busy times. Stopping places are the orange emergency areas, which have an SOS phone. Our smart motorway breakdown guide explains what to do if you can’t reach one.

Telling us where you are

Motorways all look alike at night. The small blue driver location signs at the roadside show the motorway, a letter for the direction and a number for the distance, for example M25 A 123.4. Read them out to us, or tap “Send my location” and your phone will send a map pin. Either way, tell us which way you were heading: the same spot on the opposite carriageway can be twenty minutes away.

Tolls and crossings

If the job takes us over the Dartford Crossing, through the Blackwall or Silvertown tunnels or along another toll road, the charge is included in the price we agree on the phone.