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We love hearing back from our customers and wanted to share the great feedback we’ve had from one of our valued customers, Mike Dean. Mike is a member of the Morris Minor Owners Club and insures his Morris Traveller with us.

As part of his policy, Mike opted to include our breakdown cover option and earlier this month had to use this service whilst on holiday in Scotland. Here he shares his experience of the service:

“On the morning of Friday 5th April while touring in my Morris Traveller, I heard a huge bang and felt a lurch which indicated that my differential had chewed off a couple of teeth from one of the halfshafts, and I'd be going nowhere without a strip of the axle. Unfortunately at the time I was in a car park in Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull off the west coast of Scotland. Oh, and I had a teardrop caravan in tow, too.

I called Lancaster breakdown at about 11am and told them I needed recovery, and that I needed to get the car and caravan to Spilsby in Lincolnshire, about four hundred and fifty miles away, and despite what Google Maps would tell you, at least ten hours driving away. Lancaster quite rightly wanted to firstly check if a repair could take place on the island to avoid the long distance recovery, so I pointed them in the direction of the only garage on the island who I thought could handle it. However, a quick call confirmed that by the time a pair of toughened halfshafts and a diff could be sourced and sent up, it would actually be easier to just send the car back.

All that took about an hour, and then we set about working out the logistics. In theory if I were with my car the recovery operator would have to travel as far as his driving hours would allow, and then transfer me to another truck to do the rest of the journey, probably arriving at the garage in the early hours of Saturday morning. I told Lancaster that I was with another Morris Minor and could potentially travel home in that, instead of returning with my car. This meant that for example a driver with a sleepover cab could take the car and van and after completing his hours, he could stay in his cab and continue the following day, which should make the recovery operation considerably cheaper. The chap from Lancaster on the phone asked if it was essential to get the car back over the weekend, and I agreed that it wouldn't overly inconvenience the repairs if it took a couple of days to get the car back home.

The only further fly in the ointment was that, if I was to hold back the other Minor to get into once I'd handed my car over to a recovery driver, I'd need to do that pretty quickly because the ferry we'd need to catch was leaving in a little more than an hour. I was slightly worried when Lancaster said the recovery operator was coming from Fionnphort which was at the other end of the island, however to my delight the driver arrived twenty minutes before our boat left.

After a few minutes of winching and paperwork, he was loaded and let us go. Lancaster stayed in constant communication as I had a further call shortly after to confirm the agent had arrived, and then on the Monday they called again to say the car would be starting its journey back shortly. On Tuesday I was updated that the van was in Manchester and just about to leave on its last leg, and then Tuesday early evening they phoned once more to say they had safely handed over the car and caravan to the garage in rural Lincolnshire.

 The service from the moment I called them until they dropped off the car was exemplary at every single stage. I couldn't possibly have asked for more cooperation, despite the fact that I was coming from pretty much as far as was possible while still in the UK, AND on an island in the Hebrides AND with a caravan. We spent the very barest minimum of time exploring alternatives and then they moved heaven and earth to get the car handed over to the safe keeping of an agent and keep me on my journey.

On every call they asked if I had any questions and invited me to call back if I thought of anything. I've been lucky and only experienced a very modest number of 'failures to proceed' in twenty five years Minoring, but this has been by some distance the best experience. I would like to pass on my sincere thanks to everyone involved in my recovery, and to thoroughly recommend the service to others.”

If you would like to speak to the team about our breakdown cover options, you can request a call back here.