Green flag / mayday will not recover your pets

My experience is that, although there is no absolute guarantee, many recovery vehicles will accept a small dog.  We have a Cavalier King Charles, and on the rare occasions we have needed to be recovered, we haven't had a problem - she just sits on Carol's lap.  We have found it is up to the discretion of the recovery driver.  

David

P.S. For clarity, I have changed the title of the thread from Red flag to Green flag.... 

They shut the M60 last summer to transfer horse(s) from a broken down horse box ...... Oh what fun sat in 4 lanes of stationary traffic for a few hours. 

There is another discussion on this over on the pet thread. The quote below is from the AA. Because they advise to have a pet restraint that can be used on ANY vehicle I am confident that the AA will get me and my dog to my destination without it travelling in the car on the back of a truck. This happened to my daughters dog being recovered by Green Flag on the M1.

“Is my pet covered if my car breaks down?

We do our best to welcome pets wherever possible. If we can't take your pet, we'll do what we can to help get them home.

We recommend you use suitable travel carriers for your pet or restraints that you can use on any vehicle – so we can take your pet where they need to go safely”

Our dog wears a harness when in the car clipped to a seatbelt clip to restrain him.

Personally I cant see a problem with him being in the cab.

I am sure you don't see a problem with your dog being in the cab. Unfortunately the Green Flag driver may  have a different opinion - and he is the one calling the shots. 

Well, all I can say is in our experience, dogs are not welcome in recovery vehicle cabs. The fact that they mention harnesses and crates probably means that the poor little things will be in the owner’s vehicle being tossed around like a sack of spuds. It’s open to interpretation, much like the Governments advice on staying at home, and that’s going really well.......I don’t think. Personally, we always have a Plan B. 

This is just one forum regarding travelling with dogs, but it mentions different Recovery companies. It’s from a while ago, but I can assure you things have not improved.

https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/topic/290256-best-car-breakdown-cover-for-transporting-dogs/

Harnesses for dogs that use the car's seat belt implies the dog is going to be sat on a seat. Molly travels in the back of our ML, behind a cargo/dog guard, which doesn't have a seat belt buckle to plug a harness into, consequently she doesn't have a harness.

Interesting informative thread making dog owning breakdown users aware of the issue with recovery.

Last year, our motorhome developed a problem with an injector on the way to C&CC Hayfield. Diesel was leaking everywhere in the engine bay, the stink of it in the cab alerted us to the problem. Managed to get to the site and called the breakdown/recovery service linked to the Caravan Guard insurance we have for the MH
Initially they sent out a mechanic to the site who tried to remove the offending injector but the clamp bolt sheared (Fiat Ducato, Iveco 2.3 engine) A common problem as rain water pools on the head corroding the clamp bolts making them impossible to remove in one piece.

Anyway, the mechanic arranged recovery on our departure day so we could at least stay and try to enjoy the rest of our break.

On the Monday, the low loader turned up and we were informed then, that our two dogs were not allowed to travel with us in the cab due to ‘the risk of the next persons being rescued, possibly being allergic to dogs’

We secured the dogs in the MH and set off for home. That in itself is a nerve wracking experience, our 7.4m motorhome perched on top of this low loader, the winding roads back to the M1 at Chesterfield making things very uneasy for us. Credit to the driver though, he avoided all low hanging branches and our motorhome was transported without a single scratch to it.

We were relayed on to another awaiting low loader at Tibshelf services so an opportunity to let the dogs out to toilet. Bless them, they were asleep when we opened up the MH to let them out.

Back on the road, all motorway back to the Midlands so we felt a little easier. Motorhome dropped off at an injector specialist in Coventry (Carwoods) I got a taxi home to fetch my car, returned to the garage and collected the wife, dogs and our stuff. Motorhome repaired with a new injector within two days and has been fine since.

I can understand why the recovery driver didn’t want the dogs in his cab, but it was very worrying the dogs might have become extremely stressed whilst being transported without us being in the MH with them. Thankfully, they were fine and the journey didn’t bother them. 

Can’t say all dogs would be so chilled about it though, I’d imagine some would have a real problem with it.

I wouldn’t put money on being able to persuade a recovery driver to relent, our guy would not budged. The dogs were NOT going to be transported in his cab. ‘End of’ in his words

Hi Clarinetman,

In the event of a Motorway emergency, Mayday’s first priority is to the safety of all road users, so in that scenario, all vehicles and passengers (two-legged and four-legged) would, at the very least, be moved to a place of safety, which would be off the Motorway.

Obviously, this may be performed by the Police or Highways Agency vehicles, who take precedence over vehicle breakdown providers if they feel the safety aspect is pressing.

I should also advise that assistance animals (guide dogs, hearing dogs etc) would be transported with their owners in the recovery vehicle, although in these cases we would always recommend you make this requirement clear on your initial call, if only to increase the likelihood of getting the correct resource out first time.

Regards,

Dave