By ROB HULL FOR THISISMONEY.CO.UK
With the Met Office predicting colder and wetter than average weather for the November to January months, it’s not the best time to be stranded at the roadside with a clapped-out car.
But Green Flag predicts it will happen to 900,000 motorists in the next two months – with more than half a million enduring the misery in December alone.
According to historical data from the breakdown provider, drivers are most likely to suffer a problem in the final week of December with an average 105,000 call-outs received as vehicles are restarted after being left standing during the Christmas period.
+4
Waiting in a winter wonderland: Green Flag predicted half a million drivers will be calling on a breakdown recovery service during December
It reveals the day motorists are most likely to need breakdown assistance is the first day back to work after the Christmas bank holiday – 29 December this year – with an average of 43,500 breakdowns recorded on average based on back data.
Between Christmas Eve and the 29 December it expects to attend 158,000 car breakdowns.
But it won’t end there. Green Flag also predicts an additional 390,000 breakdowns in January, with almost a third of these coming in the third week of the month.
Drained batteries are the most common cause of breakdown during the winter with vehicles being left unused for extended periods of time as Brits spend enjoy a festive break from driving.
According to Green Flag’s historical data, December 29 will see the most car breakdowns
Nick Reid, head of rescue at Green Flag, said: ‘Every year we see a noticeable spike in breakdown rates as the cold weather sets in and people’s cars are left unused.
‘We want to ensure drivers are able to get where they need to be, no matter what, so have taken a look at how to guarantee a stress free winter.’
Green Flag offers its own winter driving tips, consisting of the following:
In order to phone for roadside assistance, you’ll have to hope your car has gone kaput in a location with a phone signal – research from the RAC Foundation has found 4,561 miles of UK roads have no 2G mobile network coverage to make an emergency call.
This is two per cent of the entire road network.
AREA | MILES OF NO NETWORK COVERAGE |
---|---|
Highlands | 452 |
Powys | 437 |
Argyll & Bute | 292 |
Cumbria | 252 |
Devon | 243 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 237 |
North Yorkshire | 231 |
Scottish Borders | 226 |
Gwynedd | 172 |
Ceredigion | 156 |
Highways in 49 separate local authority areas have no coverage at all, while a further 28,975 miles – 12 per cent of all UK roads – have only partial 2G availability, meaning your phone will be struggling to get bars of network coverage.
The research also found that there are 14,554 miles of road where there is a complete absence of 3G coverage.
An additional 111,679 miles of road – 45 per cent – have only partial 3G coverage.
When it comes to 4G signals more than half of the road network has no coverage and roughly a quarter has only partial coverage.
Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, said: ‘Most of us like to think we are always just a mobile phone call away from help but even in a crowded, high-tech country like Britain the reality is somewhat different.
‘Our work shows there are thousands of miles of road along which you would not want to break down or have an accident because calling the RAC, the emergency services or even home wouldn’t be an option.
‘Even where there is partial network coverage it might not be from your network provider.
‘And it’s not just in emergencies that we rely on our mobiles. Increasingly we drivers depend on our smart phones for everything from telling us how to get from A to B, to what the weather is going be, to where the congestion is.
‘Yet both 3G and 4G coverage is still patchy in many areas and the chance of downloading data when we need it can often be slim.’