Breakdown Recovery in London

Breaking down is bad enough. Breaking down in London, in a live lane or a bay you cannot stay in, with traffic going past a foot from the door, is worse. Get yourself somewhere safe first. Then message or ring us: MPG Recovery is on call 24 hours a day, and the phone is answered by someone who can tell you straight away what happens next.

Get safe first

If you are on a fast road, get out on the side away from traffic and stand well back from the vehicle, behind a barrier where there is one. If anybody is hurt, or the vehicle is in a position that puts other people at risk, call the emergency services before you call us. A car can be replaced.

Once you are clear, send us a location. A WhatsApp location pin is the most reliable thing you can give us, especially at night or on a stretch of road with nothing obvious to name. A Google Maps link or the nearest junction number works too.

What counts as a breakdown job

Anything that has stopped the vehicle being driven safely. A car that turns over but will not fire. A battery flat enough that the dash lights die when you try. A clutch that has finally let go, a snapped belt, a gearbox that will not select, overheating that has pushed the temperature gauge into the red, or a warning light the handbook tells you to stop driving on.

Also the ones people hesitate to call about: a flat tyre with no usable spare, a wheel that will not turn, keys locked somewhere unhelpful, or a car that started fine this morning and now will not do anything at all. If you are unsure whether it is worth a callout, describe it and we will tell you honestly.

Roadside first, recovery if not

Not every breakdown needs a truck. Where the fault is something we can deal with where you are — a jump start being the common one — we will try that first, and you may be driving away rather than waiting on a flatbed.

When it cannot be fixed at the roadside, the same truck recovers the vehicle, so there is no second wait and no second charge for turning up. It goes onto the bed on a winch if it will not roll or steer, and it is strapped by the wheels. Full detail of how that works is on the vehicle recovery page.

Breaking down on London roads

London adds its own complications. Red routes where stopping is an offence in itself, bus lanes under camera enforcement, box junctions, and the North Circular and A13 where there is nowhere sensible to stand. Multi-storey and underground car parks bring height limits a full-size truck cannot clear, so the vehicle has to be brought up to street level before it can be loaded.

Our base is in the E1 arches, so East London is the ground we cover most often, but breakdown work runs across the whole of London and the surrounding areas.

Details that speed things up

• Your exact location — a pin, a link, or the road and nearest junction
• Vehicle make, model and colour
• What happened, and whether it still turns over
• Whether it rolls and steers
• Whether you have the keys
• Where it needs to go afterwards
• A photo of how and where it is parked

Where the vehicle goes next

That is your call. Most go to a garage, which is worth ringing first so you know they can take it and when they are open. Others go home, to a storage yard, or to a bodyshop. If the garage is closed until Monday and the car cannot stay where it is, say so and we will talk through the options.

What it costs

Price depends on where you are, where the vehicle is going, the time of day, and how awkward it is to load. Quotes are free and the price is agreed before we set off. There is no separate callout charge on a job we carry out; a callout fee only applies if we have travelled to you and the vehicle then does not need moving.

Why people call us

We answer day and night, we tell you a realistic arrival time rather than the one you want to hear, and we are rated 5.0 on Google from 19 reviews. Several of those were written by people we picked up at the roadside, including one at 4am on the way back from a long drive. For everything else we handle, see our services or start at vehicle recovery and transport in London.

Breakdown recovery FAQs