Trip 2011

Or maybe just friends you haven’t met yet.

I realize I’ve missed a couple of days…ok, beyond a week now at this point (Bath to Tintern took place over a week ago), but a few nights of no internet access along with just being dog tired at the end of each day hasn’t helped with keeping up.

We were getting off an “A” road about 6:00 PM or so and onto a different “A” road leading to Kendal in the Lake District on Monday night, January 24, when we heard an unusual noise from the rear of the car.  About a half a mile up the road, I realized that we had a flat tire on the right rear of the car.  We found a place to park the car away from the road (even if it WAS a no parking zone – it was a college parking lot) but well lighted.  The rental agreement had a phone number for roadside assistance, so we broke out the global phone we purchased for this trip and plugged the number in.  It turns out the number was actually for the AA (the equivalent to the US AAA) but the rental company has some kind of scheme worked out with the AA.  After about 10 minutes of trying to explain to the gentleman where we were (I swear I said Kendal 10 times, but it wasn’t until I spelled it phonetically that he said back to me “Oh, Kendal, I know where that is…)

After the call to the AA, we called the B&B we were headed towards to let them know we had a flat and would be a bit late.  At the news of that, the gentleman from the B&B asked where we were, and he would come down to take us to the B&B, along with our bags!  Brian arrived a short time later, and the Clampetts got their luggage in his car.  Kathy went with him back to the B&B while I waited for the AA to arrive.

About 20 minutes after Kathy and Brian left, the AA truck arrived.  A young man by the name of Tom took a look at the flat tire, asked me how long we’d had the car (a week to the day) and how many miles we’d put on it (about 1300 at that point) and stated that the reason the tire went flat was because the tire was not fit to be on the road!  It was bald, had a fairly large gouge on the inside, and had bare wire showing through the rubber that was left on that inside gouge.  He changed the tire with the spare in the trunk, then took a look at the other tires – the other tire on the back of the car was nearly as bad as the flat, while there didn’t seem to be a problem with the front tires.  He also told me that if we had been stopped by the police that each tire would have been worth “3 points on your license”.  Not sure what that would translate into for a foreign visitor, but I am sure it would not have been pleasant.  Tom was adamant that the car was not fit to be on the road, but he understood that we were on holiday, so he wanted me to take the car either to a tire store (where I could park the car off the road) or to the dealer (where I would need to leave the car on the street) and deal with it in the morning.  Apparently there is nothing like Manny, Moe and Jack in the UK – most stores that provide services are only open from 8:30 in the morning until about 5:00 in the evening.  Having seen how people drive, and what a lot of cars that have been parked on the roadside look like, I opted for the tire store so I could leave the car off the street.  I followed Tom through town and parked the car in front of a tire store in the Mintsfeet Industrial Estate (think business park, but this one seemed to deal primarily with automobile, truck and motorcycle products).  Tom then dropped me off at the B&B.

Right rear tire, flat, after the AA man had removed it from the car.

Now, while the AA isn’t an official government agency, apparently they are fairly well respected.  When I related the story to Brian, one of our hosts, he told us that if the AA says the tires are bad, then most people and companies in the UK will accept that as a fact.

I attempted to call the rental company customer relations line, but ended up in a phone tree from hell, with options that did not apply (no, I didn’t need to make a reservation or discuss a bill from a previous registration…)  Eventually, I was able to get a representative to make a reservation, and explained the situation to her.  Her only advice was to try to call one of the local offices to Kendal (one was 40 miles away, the other 60 miles away) IN THE MORNING!  She gave me the phone numbers she had listed for Barrow-in-Furness and Carlisle, but advised me that they wouldn’t open until 8:30 the next morning.

So it was with much consternation, worry and concern that we went to bed, realizing there was nothing we could do about the situation until the morning.

In the morning, the fun began anew.

Attempts to call the rental office in Barrow-in-Furness went unanswered.  A call back to the main Customer Relations number, once again with no option for “you have a current rental and need help”, a reservation clerk once again offered the number for a local office, this time the Carlisle office with a different number than the night before.  A call to that number also went unanswered.

While I was dealing with the rental company, our host called over to the tire store where the car had been left overnight to let them know why there was a car in their “forecourt” this morning.  Our host explained that we were on vacation, the car was a rental, and we were trying to get repairs sorted out with the rental company.

A few minutes later, the man from the tire store, named Martin, called our host back to let him know that he had contacted our rental company and had arranged to replace both of the rear tires on the car, and that they should be able to have it done within an hour and a half, with no cost to us!

Our host drove me back over to the tire store because I had the key to the car and they couldn’t do anything with the car as long as I had it, then we went back to the B&B.  A short time after getting back to the B&B, Martin called to say they had already received the tires and the car would be ready to go in a few minutes.  Another lift back over to the tire store, and about 20 minutes later, I was driving the Ford back over to the B&B so we could load up and continue our trip.

Between Brian and Mandy (our hosts at the Balcony House Bed and Breakfast) and Martin at the ATS Euromaster store in Kendal, we couldn’t have gotten assistance from better people.  They all went well out of their way to make sure we were able to continue our vacation with as little disruption as possible.

The story when we returned the car to the rental company looks like it may have had a happy ending also – but time will tell.