Were The Aa The Right People To Call, In A Situation Such As This?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2544536/AA-refused-help-mother-accidentally-locked-toddler-car-took-150-membership.html

The police or the fire service will generally help out in situations such as this.

I have twice locked myself out of a car, the first time was when there wasn't so many dishonest people around, because I simply went to a close by Halfords shop (who in those days held stocks of the most popular car keys) and for a deposit of just £1 they lent me a brown bag full of keys, I then sat on the kerb edge trying out these keys until I finally found one that fitted.

On the second occasion i was near to a police station and I went in to explain what had happened and they sent out a policeman complete with a certain tool and he simply pushed this down the door jamb and lifted the latch.

Ah those Halcyon days of yore.

[Zacs-Master]

Maybe the local dealer would have been better rather than wasting public resources.

[Prudie]

I see no reason why the AA should help out a non-member in this situation, they're not a public service, so no, not the right people to call.

[2sp_]

I agree with you Prudie that the AA shouldn't help out non-members but in this situation where there was a small child locked in the car, I think they should have made an exception.

If it were me, I would have broken the window myself to get to my child.

[Zacs-Master]

I notice that the back window was broken, presumably the child was in the back. Not very sensible.

[jackthehat]

Perhaps this is one of the downsides of advertising yourself as 'Britain's fourth emergency service'...?

[anotheoldgit]

Zacs-Master

/// I notice that the back window was broken, presumably the child was in the back. Not very sensible. ///

I would have thought that the rear of the car was the most usual place where mums place their children's car seat.

[Prudie]

A very fair point Jack! If they were already on the scene I might expect them to help but not to respond to a call out.

[Fitzer]

I assume Zacs means that as the child was (presumably) in the back breaking a back window wasn't sensible, flying glass etc. etc.

[anotheoldgit]

jackthehat

/// Perhaps this is one of the downsides of advertising yourself as 'Britain's fourth emergency service'...? //

Yes there was three other emergency services to call on before she got round to the AA.

[Zacs-Master]

Exactly. So why not break the front window, gain access and free the child from the rear without risking covering her in bits of glass?

[2sp_]

And if she had called the police to come and rescue her child from the locked car I expect we would now be discussing the waste of public resources when she could have called the AA instead...

[anotheoldgit]

Fitzer

/// I assume Zacs means that as the child was (presumably) in the back breaking a back window wasn't sensible, flying glass etc. etc. ///

Yes of course, missed that one.

[anotheoldgit]

2sp_

/// And if she had called the police to come and rescue her child from the locked car I expect we would now be discussing the waste of public resources when she could have called the AA instead... ///

No why would one?

The AA is a paying member's emergency service, why should they be expected to be on call to the general public, whereas the police etc are for the protection of the public and their duty's cover many things.

[andy-hughes]

AOG - I too remeber the 'good old days' when such situations could be resolved in the way yours were, and i am sure you join me in bemoaning their passing.

I think the lady was probably flustered and confused, and thought of the AA as a first response - correctly as it turned out - because their standard proceedure would have been to assist this lady and then sort out membership - which is standard for offering their services.

I agree that had the lady called out the police or fire brigade, she could have been accused of wasting public resources.

I recall years ago calling the fire brigade at 11:00 p.m.out to turn of our street stop cock because a kitchen pipe in the celing space has burst and was flooding the kitchen. The officer in charge of the crew advised me that this was considered a 'non-emergency', and they may charge me a considerable fee for their service. They didn't charge, and am unsure if that system still works - but who would want to test it in our modern financially straitened times?

With the hindsight offered to us sitting at our keyboards, we all have ideas of what the correct action is / was, but as a mum with a crying toddler, who knows what we would have done?

[Baldric]

There are three main UK emergency service functions:
Police
Fire department
Emergency medical service
I would have thought the RNLI or Coastguards would rank No.4 on the list,
the AA seem to be very self-opinionated.

[Sqad]

Oh! I see......she waited until she needed the AA....and then decided to join.

Why not wait until your are burgled and then take out contents insurance?
Why not wait until you are in a car crash and then taken out car insurance?
Why not wait until you are ill on holiday and then take out Health Insurance?

The mother has a miserable face...and i bet she is overweight, smokes and has tattoos.

No the AA should not have come to her aid.

[ToraToraTora]

she's not a member, end of! I don't see why she or anyone thinks that anyone is responsible. So do you think that the AA should be at the beck and call of anyone who has some sort of motoring issue and does not want to pay?

[Prudie]

As it happens whenever I've had to call the AA or RAC as a member I've waited an hour and a half for them to turn up so again not the right people to call in this situation.

[Sqad]

?mobile phone
?husband ?OH