M40 named as one of two worst places to break down in UK

The M40, between Birmingham and Buckinghamshire, is one of the two worst places in the UK to break down, according to new research.

Passengers breaking down on the M40 have to wait longer for assistance than those in any other region in the UK – apart from the remote and mountainous Aberdeenshire region of Scotland.

Although the M40 is less busy than other motorways such as the M1, it has long stretches between junctions. The lack of slip roads mean that passengers awaiting breakdown services on the road are at a disadvantage. If there is a traffic jam, the recovery truck has to wait in the same traffic until it reaches the breakdown scene.

(If the broken down vehicle is the cause of the jam or the vehicle and passengers are in a dangerous situation, the report concedes, the Highways Agency grant all recovery drivers special permission to use the hard shoulder.)

The research, compiled by startrescue.co.uk, showed that drivers who were ‘lucky’ enough to break down on the M621 (southwest of Leeds) or the M61 (northwest of Manchester) would benefit from the quickest response times – an average of just 25 minutes in each case.