Yes it would have been the police but the RAC should have been there to help ensure their safety they had a breakdown recovery policy with them after all.

Their attitude is appalling, they have told one worried owner who has contacted them today it is all media hype.

The main problem was the dogs, 11 dogs, 3 of them were small puppies in one container, also a chinese crested puppy a toy poodle and corgis, all in containers, hardly large unruly dogs and quite frankly why would the RAC personnel even have to have any involvement with them.

The kennel club have asked the RAC for clarification on their policy, it seems they make it up as they go along. Will make interesting reading.

I wonder what the excuse was when my friends husband who is disabled was kept waiting 5 hrs for the breakdown service, same company, it ended up costing them a fortune to get him home.

I have nothing but praise for the RAC when I was hit by lorries twice, both times my 3 dogs went in th cab of the breakdown vehicle, I was asked to keep them off the seats. Hubby was disabled and had th be lifted into the cab. My car was an automatic and was put on the back of the breakdown truck. The first accident the caravan was towed behind us, the second time it was put on the back of lorry.

If it had been a normal car the dogs could've stayed in place and it could've been towed. This was a big twin axled motorhome and too heavy to be towed by a normal vehicle. It needed a more specialist vehicle to tow it which would have to come from farther afield. If it was out of hours these things all take time.

I said in a previous post it took 3 different garages to send out the correct lorry to pick up an automatic 4x4, and 7 hours later we got it home.

Maybe it was thought a repair could've been done roadside on the motorhome.
Maybe someone should have called the police. It's rare not to to see them up and down the motorways.
Breakdown in communication from all angles.
If a lorry which has jackknifed is coming towards you it will be beyond the control of the driver. I haven't heard anything about the driver or the circumstances which led him to crash into this motorhome.

I don't see how all the blame can be laid at the breakdown services door, there are lots of things which led up to this awful scene.

It's very sad about the dogs. its a miracle so many survived. I do hope that young lady recovers and her family can travel over to be with her.

The dogs could have stayed in place in this motor home as they were all secure.
I am guessing it may have been how they were relaying the information but apparently they had initially been told 60 to 90 mins for recovery. when they called back as no one had arrived they where told their contractors where refusing to come out as they did not want to deal with the dogs.
The dogs where all crated and secure in a back compartment. There where 3 English toy terrier pups in a different part at the front but again in a travel box.
They had been told rescue would then be with them in an other 45 mins and it was 43 mins they were getting together their bags and phones when they where hit.

3 hours to a vulnerable vehicle seems to me to be not good service.

Maybe this will make more people aware that the hard shoulder is a dangerous place to be, especially now some are used as an extra lane in busy periods.

There has to be some onus on the people taking out insurance policies to find out just WHAT they are covered for. These are essentially roadside repair and recovery policies.

As I've said some people have been very surprised that not all the PEOPLE who'd been in the car could be transported. And again, it was down to the recovery service that went out to them.

And again, all advice is to EXIT the vehicle if you break down on a motorway. And I remembered that from when I was learning to drive almost half a century ago. I looked it up to make sure and the same advice is given now.

It can be just as 'hairy and scary' breaking down on your own late at night - as it is breaking down with friends and lots of dogs.

I don't know all the details but it doesn't even sound as if this vehicle was on the hard shoulder? That it was still in one of the lanes? Even on the hard shoulder is a danger - danger being that something coming along behind won't realise you are stationary and will run into you thinking you are in a lane moving along in front of them.

But, at the end of the day, if this lorry jack knifed, it sounds as though it would have hit them in any lane.

When we used to tow up and down to the West Country regularly we saw many caravans that had come off the motorway - they fold like a pack of cards and some people are even stupid enough to carry their dog(s) in the caravan - it's not allowed for people to travel in the van when it is moving.

It is very heartening to read that so many people were willing to help after the incident. Nothing will bring the dogs back now. And no amount of blame will change anything but if anything 'good' is to come out of it it will be that people who travel with lots of animals in their vehicles (and I've obviously underestimated just how many do) will now check and find out just what they ARE insured for regarding recovery should they break down with animals on board. And hopefully that should the same thing ever happen to them they won't just 'sit in the car'.

I've got bells and whistles and belts and braces 24hr cover on my vehicle being on my own with just my dog. However, the only two times I've ever really needed it I was up the Troodos mountains where no signal for phones and the time before that in the middle of Dartmoor and ditto. So useless. But there's no way I could blame the breakdown or recovery insurers for that! I ended up at the mercy of kindly strangers. All ended well.

Years ago 3 of us were going to a dog show in Birmingham and before we knew it we were stranded on the M6 in a blizzard which eventually covered the wheels. All four lanes were gridlocked. As the other side of the m'way was closed it gave the snowplough a chance to clear the road & we got through by someone unbolting the crash barriers. If we'd waited for the snow to stop we would've been there for several more hours and it was getting dark. This was before mobile phones so contacting families and other services wasnt possible.

I had to make 2 trips up the M1 recently and the amount of people standing by their broken down vehicles smoking/on phones was staggering. They must all think they're immortal! You always know when there's an incident on the hard shoulder by the traffic slowing down, even mums getting their kids out for a wee causes major tailbacks but the most unbelievable one I saw recently was a moron having a slash on a roundabout of a dual carriageway. How that never caused a pileup I'll never know.

I take the view of hope for the best but expect the worst. Heck I even move my car right out of the way if we have a lorry delivery. I try to be in charge of my fate as much as possible.

I have heard an interview with one of the ladies involved they were told someone would be with them in 45 minutes which was not the case. It was subzero temperature in the early hours, I doubt many would have taken the dogs into that in the dark.

The lorry jackknifed because of the accident the accident didn't happen because it jackknifed.

They were let down big time, they had been rescued on a previous occasion in the same vehicle with no problem the services know exactly what vehicle you are in when you place your call.

I recently had to call the breakdown services, I had got to work and was inside the building they arrived in less than an hour, not the RAC I hasten to add.

The police were amazed that anyone survived the crash at all there was nothing left of the campervan.

The breakdown service, police and lorry driver were all to blame as far as I see although the lady interviewed praised them and another lorry driver who helped her search for the missing dogs.

The vehicle was on the hard shoulder
Yes I listened to the interview as well, very distressing

The lady mentioned that they were reluctant to get the dogs out because the side door opened out onto the motorway, not the passenger side.