Get safe first

In a live lane, or no hard shoulder

Stay in the van, belts on, hazards on, ring 999. Do not get out.

1. Hazard lights on immediately. Approaching traffic may be closing at 70mph and your lights are the only warning they get.
2. Stay in the van with your seatbelt fastened, and keep everyone else in too. A vehicle is a survival cell. Standing on a live carriageway is the single most dangerous thing you can do after a breakdown.
3. Ring 999. Say you are in a live lane and cannot get clear. This is a genuine emergency, not an inconvenience. The control room can set signs, close the lane and get a traffic officer to you.
4. If a lane-closure signal and a traffic officer get you out safely, follow their instructions exactly.
5. Only if it is genuinely clear and safe to leave by the left-hand door, get out, get behind the barrier, and move away from the van. Behind a barrier is the one place a struck vehicle cannot follow you to.

Never:

• Never stand in front of, behind, or beside the van in a running lane.
• Never try to push a van out of a live lane by hand.
• Never attempt a repair, not even a wheel change, in a live lane.
• Never put out a warning triangle on a motorway. You would be walking in traffic to place it.

In an emergency area or lay-by

Get in as far as you can, out of the left-hand door, and use the SOS phone.

1. Pull in as far forward and as far left as the bay allows, and turn your wheels to the left. If the van is struck from behind, turned wheels send it away from the carriageway rather than into it.
2. Hazard lights on, and sidelights too if it is dark or visibility is poor.
3. Everyone out of the left-hand doors only, then stand behind the barrier if there is one.
4. Use the orange SOS phone in the bay rather than your mobile if you can reach it safely. It identifies your exact location automatically, which saves minutes and removes any doubt about where you are.
5. Wear high-vis if you have it, and keep it in the cab from now on. Two in the cab, not one. The spare is for whoever is with you.
6. Rejoining is the dangerous bit: build up speed on the hard shoulder or slip where one exists, and only merge into a real gap.

Never:

• Never cross the carriageway on foot, for any reason.
• Never let passengers wander along the verge.
• Never stand between your van and the live lanes.

On the hard shoulder

Go as far left as you can, get out of the left doors, get behind the barrier.

1. Get as far left as possible, well clear of the white line, and turn the wheels left.
2. Hazard lights on. Sidelights on as well in poor light or at night.
3. Leave by the left-hand doors, every single person, then move up the bank and behind the barrier. Hard shoulders are struck regularly. Being a few metres back and behind a barrier is what makes the difference.
4. Stand further back than feels necessary, and uphill of the van if the road slopes.
5. Ring for help: 0300 123 5000 in England, 0800 028 1414 in Scotland, 0300 123 1213 in Wales. Or your breakdown provider.
6. Leave animals in the van unless there is immediate danger. If you must take a dog out, keep it on a short lead behind the barrier.
7. If anyone approaches and you feel uneasy, get back in through the left-hand door, lock it, and ring 999. Trust that instinct. It is the one time getting back into the van is the right call.

Never:

• Never attempt a wheel change on a motorway hard shoulder. Even a quick one. Get recovered.
• Never put out a warning triangle on a motorway.
• Never stand on the offside of the van, the side facing traffic.
• Never walk along the hard shoulder to an exit unless you are directed to.

On a dual carriageway or fast A-road

Get right off the carriageway, then get yourself well away from the van.

1. If the van still moves at all, get it completely off the carriageway: a verge, a lay-by, a side road, a field gateway. Half on and half off is the worst of both. Commit to getting fully clear while you still have momentum.
2. Hazard lights on, sidelights in poor light, high-vis on before you get out.
3. Get out on the side away from traffic, and move behind a barrier, hedge or fence.
4. A warning triangle is allowed here, at least 45 metres behind the van, placed walking on the verge not the carriageway. Allowed on an A-road, never on a motorway. If placing it means walking in traffic, skip it.
5. Ring the relevant operator or your breakdown provider. If the van is obstructing traffic or on a blind bend, ring 999.

Never:

• Never stand in the carriageway to wave traffic down.
• Never leave the van unlit at night without hazards or sidelights.
• Never work on the traffic side of the van.

On an ordinary road or in town

Make yourself visible, get out of the traffic flow, then sort the van.

1. Hazard lights on straight away, and sidelights if the light is poor.
2. If it rolls, get it out of the flow: a side road, a parking bay, a forecourt, anywhere off the main drag.
3. Check you are not causing a hazard on a bend, a crest, a crossing or a junction. If you are, that is a 999 call.
4. Warning triangle 45 metres back if you have one and the road is fast enough to warrant it.
5. Now you have time: check the obvious before you pay anyone. Fuel, a flat battery, a flat tyre, the immobiliser, a blown fuse. A surprising share of call-outs are one of those five, and all five are cheap to rule out.
6. Watch where you are parked. Red routes, clearways, bus lanes and loading bays will still ticket a broken-down van.

Never:

• Never leave it blocking a junction or a crossing while you make phone calls.
• Never get underneath a van at the kerb with no axle stands.

Somewhere safe already

You have the one thing most people do not have: time. Use it.

1. Check your cover before you ring anyone who charges. Breakdown cover hides in lease agreements, insurance policies, business bank accounts and trade memberships. People pay twice constantly.
2. Rule out the cheap stuff: fuel, battery, a tyre, the immobiliser, a fuse, the AdBlue tank if it is a modern diesel.
3. Photograph the dash, every warning light, and anything visibly wrong or leaking. It gets you a better answer on the phone, and it matters if there is a warranty or insurance argument later.
4. Note the exact mileage, the plate, and what you were doing when it went wrong.
5. Then work out the real priority: is it the van, or is it today’s jobs and the load in the back?

Never:

• Never agree to work over the phone without a price.
• Never let it be recovered somewhere you did not choose, if you have a say in it.

Who to ring

Anyone is hurt, you are stuck in a live lane, or the van is an immediate danger to other traffic. A phone call needs signal, but these numbers are worth having in front of you the moment you get a bar.

Work out where you are

You will need this the second you get through to anyone. The first one is the best answer on a motorway.

Five free things to rule out

• Fuel. Gauges fail and fuel gets taken. If it cranks but will not catch and you are near empty, this is the first thing to rule out. On a diesel, running it dry can also mean it needs bleeding before it will restart.
• Battery. No crank, a slow lazy crank, dash lights dimming, or everything electrical behaving oddly at once. Vans that do short runs with a tail lift or a tracker fitted kill batteries early.
• A tyre. Walk around it. A deflating van tyre changes the steering and the noise long before it looks obviously flat, and it is the single most common reason a van stops.
• Immobiliser or key. A security light flashing, or a key fob with a dying battery. Try the spare key before you ring anyone. This one costs nothing to rule out and catches people out regularly.
• AdBlue, on a modern diesel. If the dash has been counting down a restart warning and you ignored it, the van will eventually refuse to start. Topping up the tank plus a reset is a far cheaper story than a recovery.

Your saved contacts and cover details