'We could have been killed': Couple left waiting hours for help after A24 breakdown

Mother-of-four Beverley Campbell said she thought they were going to be killed by fast-moving traffic when their vehicle came to a halt on the dual carriageway south of Findon.

Beverley, from Storrington, said the breakdown happened at around 8.30pm on June 21 but the RAC did not arrive on the scene until nearly 2am – despite frantic phone calls for help.

"We were in a really bad spot and had cars beeping at us. I was crying my eyes out.

"I was traumatised, it was really stressful.”

She said that they had called the RAC as soon as the van broke down and were told that someone would be with them within 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, a police officer in an unmarked car stopped and told them they were in a dangerous position on the roadway.

“He managed to move us up a bit because we weren’t in a safe place,” said Beverley.

She said she and her partner Mohammed Shoukat phoned the RAC again when no-one had arrived after an hour.

They were then told by the RAC, said Beverley, that no-one would be able to get to them until around 1-2am.

"I said we were a high priority because we were in a really bad spot and he said he would speak to his supervisor.

"We couldn’t get to safety off the road because there were bushes all along it.”

She said after waiting for nearly three hours on the poorly-lit road another unmarked police car arrived. “The officer told us that we needed to move because we were going to end up getting killed.

"I said we were waiting for the RAC to move us.”

She said the officer then spoke to the RAC who told him they would have someone there within half an hour.

"He phoned for back-up and they arrived and said they would stay with us. He said they would park a little way behind us so that if anyone was going to hit us, they would hit the police car first.

"The whole procedure was so stressful. I was wondering if I would get back in one piece to my kids.”

She said she later lodged a formal complaint with the RAC. “They left us there for four hours and if the police hadn’t turned up I don’t know what would have happened.

"We could have been killed. It was bad, it was scary. It was disgusting.”

A spokesperson for the RAC said it was a busy night but said that it did not take four hours to reach the couple.

He said: “We’ve apologised to Miss Campbell for the time it took to rescue her.

"Due to how busy we were in the area at the time, we immediately deployed one of our contractors who reached her in 2hrs 45mins.

“To say sorry for the experience we’ve offered Miss Campbell a gesture of goodwill.”

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