On Tuesday 3rd I rented a Transit van from my local rental company which had RAC breakdown coverage. On my return journey the clutch failed and so I stopped at a foul and littered layby on the A505 at 3.15pm. Called the RAC, who the hire company use, and they were truly, truly, dreadful! Firstly I was told that I could only report the assistance call via the internet (I only had a 3G connection so that was optimistic!) and that they would send me a link to do so. No such link arrived and I called the hire guys who reported the breakdown for me. Got a text message saying that there would be a three hour wait but later I realised that was only the delay before they actually even started to try to find a rescue truck… Another hour passed and with the light fading at 7.15pm I was hot, tired, thirsty and hungry it was pretty obvious that it was going to be a horrendously long wait for help. I felt very unsafe at the prospect of spending the night in the layby so I chanced it and coaxed the van back into life and crawled to the outskirts of Luton and reported the change of position via my mates at the hire company. By then the battery on my phone was low but fortunately I received a text message to say I would be rescued between 2am and 3am. However the guys at the hire company gave the RAC such a verbal kicking that they cracked and brought a breakdown truck all the way from central London and that arrived at 12.30am. I had endured a wait of nearly 10 hours! I was home at 2.30am… I am not as young as I was and it has taken me a few days to recover after this ordeal. Join the RAC at our peril!