What to do if you break down on a motorway

The short version

1. Get off the carriageway onto the hard shoulder or nearest emergency area if you can.
2. Exit the vehicle from the left-hand side, away from traffic.
3. Get behind the barrier if there is one — never stand between your vehicle and moving traffic.
4. Call for help and give your exact location.
5. Wait in a safe position until help arrives — not in or right next to the vehicle.

If you can get to the hard shoulder

Indicate early and move across as soon as it's safe, pulling in as far left as possible — ideally with your wheels turned slightly left, away from the carriageway, so that if you're hit from behind the vehicle is pushed further away from traffic rather than into it.

Turn on your hazard lights immediately, and keep your sidelights on if it's dark or visibility is poor. Then:

• Exit through the left-hand doors only — never the doors facing the carriageway.
• Get all passengers out and behind the barrier, well clear of the hard shoulder.
• If you have a hi-vis vest within easy reach, put it on before you get out. Don't rummage through the boot on the traffic side to find one.
• Leave pets in the vehicle unless it's unsafe to do so — you don't want a loose animal near live traffic.

If you can't get off the carriageway

Sometimes a breakdown happens somewhere you simply can't reach the hard shoulder — a live lane, a smart motorway section without a hard shoulder, or a tight spot in traffic. This is the highest-risk scenario, and the advice is different:

• Keep your seatbelt on and your hazard lights on.
• Stay in the vehicle unless you can safely and clearly get out and away from all traffic.
• Call 999 immediately if you're in a live lane — this is treated as an emergency, not a routine breakdown.
• On a smart motorway, look for the nearest emergency refuge area (marked with orange signs) if you have enough control of the vehicle to reach one.

Calling for help

Once you're in a safe position, call for recovery. If you're on the hard shoulder, an orange marker post will be visible every 100 metres or so, giving you a reference number for your exact location — this is the fastest way to tell a recovery service or the emergency services precisely where you are, faster than trying to describe the location yourself.

What to avoid

• Don't attempt roadside repairs yourself on a live hard shoulder — even changing a tyre here is genuinely dangerous. Wait for a recovery service to do it safely, or to move you somewhere it can be done properly.
• Don't stand between your vehicle and the traffic, even briefly, even to grab something from the boot.
• Don't try to flag down other vehicles or wave people down — it creates more risk, not less.
• Don't leave your hazard lights off — they should stay on the entire time you're stopped, day or night.

After you're safe

Once you and your passengers are in a safe position, the rest is straightforward: get your recovery arranged, and let the professionals handle the vehicle. A blown tyre, a mechanical fault, or a flat battery on a motorway all need the same first response — get people safe, then get help moving toward you.