A MUM who is having radiotherapy treatment for cancer was left standing in the rain and cold for more than four hours by the RAC.

Judith Barlow, from Frampton Cotterell, called the RAC breakdown service after the clutch on her Honda broke on the A4174, near Emerson’s Green.

Having been a member since 2001 she was told help would come within the hour. More than four hours and several phone calls later, she was still waiting by the side in the pouring rain.

When contacted by the Gazette, the RAC offered to refund the cost of her policy as a gesture of goodwill. Mrs Barlow has pledged to donate it to the Penny Brohn Cancer Care, in Pill, the charity which has supported her throughout her illness.

Since her breast cancer diagnosis in May Mrs Barlow, who was with daughter Gemma, 21, has had chemotherapy and radiotherapy which made found her roadside ordeal particularly gruelling.

“I’m still suffering from the chemo and it has left me weak but we couldn’t sit in the car because we were parked in an awkward place and terrified. We had a few cars that came screaming up behind us and I thought we were going to get clobbered so we got out.

“I’m absolutely on my knees at the moment. I haven’t got any hair because of the treatment so I had a hat on but we weren’t expecting to be outside for very long so I only had a light raincoat over a jumper. I felt so rotten I was crying.”

On her second call, after waiting 90 minutes, she found her first call had not even been logged. She then said she was having treatment for cancer and was told she would be marked as a priority case.

“Every person I spoke to after that was horrified but they did nothing and they lied to me about when someone was coming.”

Mrs Barlow, who is on sick leave from her job as assistant head teacher at Westonbirt School, said they were only a few miles from home and could have abandoned the car or gone to the warmth of a café 10 minutes away if the RAC had been honest about the delay.

“I’m dreadfully upset not to have received an apology from the RAC. If they had just phoned and said ‘we’re really sorry, we’ve treated you terribly’ I would have let it go.”

An RAC manager rang Mrs Barlow at 5.15pm, three hours and 20 minutes after her first call, promising a local recovery service would be with her by 5.45pm. But an hour later Victoria Recovery rang saying they had only just been given her details and weren’t told she was a priority case.
However, she is full of praise for the Yate-based company who rallied to her rescue when she explained her situation.

“Mandy from Victoria was absolutely wonderful. She told me to leave the car, get myself home in the warm and dry and that when a driver was available he would come and collect the keys before recovering my car.

“This wonderful woman absolutely made my day with some caring, compassionate service. I dropped off a little thank you card on my way back from the hospital. What a difference a kind word and small amount of compassion can make.”

The RAC apologised through the Gazette saying a ‘catastrophic fault’ with its phone lines had caused problems and offering to refund the cost of Mrs Barlow’s policy.

“We would like to apologise to Mrs Barlow for the extremely poor way her breakdown was handled,” a spokesman said. “Unfortunately due to the earlier catastrophic fault with our phone lines, which also affected the police and NHS, we were dealing with a massive backlog of work.

“Despite this we should have communicated with Mrs Barlow far more effectively to inform her of the delays. As a gesture of goodwill we would like to refund the total cost of her policy.”

Mrs Barlow said: “I have decided to donate any money received to the Penny Brohn Cancer Care centre in Pill which is doing such a great job of supporting myself and my family through my treatment.”