Fear of a breakdown on the hard shoulder advise?

[SHAYTAY]

I wonder if any of you could offer some advise please?
I am now getting out and about with my pony in my trailer. I am only going to local shows but there is a great venue about an hour away from us that i would like to go to. BUT - i have a fear of breaking down on a duel carriage way!

If i could get to the venue via small country roads there would be no problem,, but i would have to spend a good amount of the time on duel carriage way to get there. I imagine breaking down and a lorry hitting the trailer up the ar*e and squashing my pony!
Can you tell me what you would do in the event of a break down on the hard shoulder, so i can at least be prepared if the worst happened. I used to belong to the horsey breakdown people, but stopped after a freind had a breakdown and was told, upon calling them, that they would be at least a couple of hours! Police were kind enough to tow them to safety.
thankees!! x

 

[abracadabra]

ha EVERY TIME (well 2-3 times anyway, lol) we've broken down with a trailer in almost the same place on the A1. in different towing vehicles too (including one that was serviced JUST THAT MORNING, and they are always checked before a journey anyway)

you can get AA/RAC type cover for your trailer so you can be towed, we got told the first time that if we didnt have that the towtruck could take us but not the trailer (!) with a horse in it!

its not really worth not having the cover, a couple of hours wait is better than that scenario, where we would have been stuck totally!

 

[xena_wales]

I've just been looking into breakdown and have found these two companies:
Equine Rescue Services - http://www.equinerescue.co.uk/membership/equine-trailer-assist - £48
Organisation of Horsebox and Trailer Owners - http://www.horsebox-rescue.co.uk/html/trailer_member.html - £70 (non AA member)

Short of that, you need the numbers in your mobile of lots of friends with transport that you can call on if you get stuck! But you can't unload on a dual carriageway, so you'd have to either swap towcars, or if you have a puncture on your trailer, use a TrailerAid thingy to change wheels.

 

[Tnavas]

Buy yourself a breakdown kit - It has a triangle warning sign so that other drivers know to look out. You will need to walk back for the recommended distance to place the sign

If you do breakdown try to get yourself onto the hard shoulder as best you can, put vehicle in neutral and allow your momentum to take you over to the hard shoulder.

Put on your hazard lights immediately you know you are in trouble. Once stopped make sure the park lights are on - just gives drivers behind you a visable sign that you are stationary

Avoid getting out of the drivers side door if you can - it's safer to get out the passenger side, lift the bonnet up. Motorway patrols are always on the lookout for this so will come to your aid faster.

Have phone numbers on your phone of companies that offer help.
eg in New Zealand the tyre people Beaurepairs will come out to horse trucks with a mobile tyre changing unit - tyres being my most recent worry when travelling the truck on a 5hr trip from one side of NZ to the other, over the mountains and national parks - no one lives in them!

 

[Law]

I had this problem and thankfully had trailer and horse recovery with the first of those links that were posted. They were very good and I would highly recommend them

In terms of what to do practically- first thing I would do is get a warning triangle or two (!!) so that you can pull into the hard shoulder and warn everyone you are there! Also I would get reflective tape or a hi viz vest so that you can sling it over the bar on the back of your box as an extra measure to ensure people can see you in the pitch black. Carry a torch, spare full haynet if possible, spare fuses, spare rug for horse in case they get cold waiting in the trailer, travel rug or warm jacket for yourself. I broke down and it took a good hour and a half for the recovery people to get to us and as the evening went on the temp dropped quite quickly. I got VERY cold waiting.

Main thing for me was to have water and hay to tide them over until getting picked up

 

[LCobby]

Better to wait for an arranged breakdonw wth an Incident Manage than not have cover.
You may even be safer on a dual carraigeway than on a narrow country road.
Have hay, water, breakdown trangle and a hi viz coat for yourself spare cheap hi viz waistcoat too.

 

[perfect11s]

Ditto what others have said..just like to add remember you can drive slowly with a flat tyre so better to get to a wide straght bit or a layby, hazzard lights on and get as far to the left or up on the verge as possible otherwise..