In this situation of a slowish puncture, and you decide to carefully drive on to the next (motorway) services, I had heard that the breakdown companies won’t attend; as they would if you are on the hard shoulder.
I would love to have this possible myth dismantled!
As I have not yet experienced this dire situation far from home yet (fingers crossed!) I cannot tell you about the demeanour of breakdown companies.
My only "slow puncture" so far occured only five miles from home and I was able to go to the tyre shop of my choice and they were like: "What do you want? - Everything looks okay!" - Yes - That's because I inflated the tyre before I drove to you!
Turned out there was a screw in the tyre and they were able to remove it and safely fix the puncture because I didn't apply the gunk.
So, I'm a bit at a loss regarding the "myth" part of your posting - care to clarify?
The “myth” part of my post, was that the services were not classed as the highway for breakdown assist, and a removal truck would be required, (at a cost), for onward travel to a garage for repair.
I await the thoughts of others.
A myth I think. If you have a breakdown service that would attend attend for a puncture why wouldnt they do so in a service area? Or would they not attend either if you were stranded in a town centre car park, rural layby etc .If so what use are they?
They will sometimes prioritise those broken down in a vulnerable location or vulnerable persons, but personaly I'd rather be somewhere safe even if the wait is longer. You may also be thinking of the 'free recovery' provided by highways agency to recover vehicles broken down in motorway contraflows etc. These wouldnt help you at a service area, or even if you had a puncture in the contraflow. They would just recover your car to their depot as per their contract. They wouldnt fix your tyre - unless you paid them. You'd still have to arrange your own tyre repair, maybe by calling the AA etc to the depot..
Incidentally in some countries this is always the case on motorways, even if you are on the hard shoulder.
Only the officially approved and fully marked recovery agents are allowed to attend. They will recover you to their depot (or deal with a quick fix) but charge you a fee. If you are still in need of assistance and have your own recovery service, they attend the depot and take over. And probably refund the fee you had to pay the approved agent.
