Couple from Pulham St Mary left "high and dry" by motor breakdown service RAC
A distraught couple are £3,000 out of pocket after being left “high and dry” by a motor breakdown service.
Skye Robinson and James Barber were on their way to Rome with their two children, Louis, nine, and Iona, six, when their car broke down.
Before embarking on the trip, the couple, of Mill Lane, Pulham St Mary, took out an insurance policy with RAC to ensure they were covered in the event of any accident.
Having made it across the Italian border, their car broke down and was taken to a garage in Arezzo, where they were quoted £4,460 to repair it.
Mrs Robinson, 40, said: “My husband needs the car for work and he lost a week’s salary because of our delayed return.
“I currently drop him off at his work every Monday morning but, for the rest of the week, he has to sleep in his lorry and can’t come home.
“We didn’t ask RAC to fix it, just to bring the car home.
“They have left us high and dry and now want us to pay the garage bill. They are destroying us financially.”
Mr Barber, 42, a lorry driver, said: “A garage in Scole said they disagreed with what the Italian garage wanted and that they estimate the cost of the repair work would be £2,000 to £2,500.
In total, the family say they have had to pay out almost £3,000 because of the dispute – and could yet face a further bill.
Mr Barber claimed that, under the terms of their insurance policy, the RAC should have arranged and paid for the vehicle to be recovered and brought back to the UK if it could not be repaired before their planned return date.
He also said the policy covered the full cost of any onward travel, when, in practice, the RAC only contributed £400 towards flights totalling £1,500.
“The RAC waited until we were home to tell me they were pulling the plug,” he said. “I’m a very polite person, but the stress and upset this has caused has been enormous.”
An RAC spokesman said: “We continue to liaise closely with Mr Barber in relation to this case.”