Surprise Repair Bills for Motorists - a podcast by BBC Radio 5 live

5 Live Investigates the mystery bills which some drivers are getting through the post after an incident on the motorway. Take the case of Sheila. She was driving up the M1 when she skidded on an unexpected patch of water. Her car spun out of control and she ended up facing the wrong way on the hard shoulder of the motorway. She dialled 999 and within minutes a police patrol officer arrived and got her and her car off the motorway. The officer said how lucky she was that there was no damage other than a minor scratch on the bumper of her car and there had been no other vehicle involved. Yet a few weeks later she received a bill for almost £3,000 pounds from a company that clears up motorway accidents and incidents on behalf of the Highways Agency. Sheila has no idea why she had been charged this amount including £266.62 for a 7.5 tonne tipper hire and driver and £1830.91 for the closure of the hard shoulder. 5 Live Investigates has learnt of other cases where drivers have been billed for significant amounts completely out of the blue with no knowledge of the work carried out. Adrian Goldberg and the team get to the bottom of these motorway charges and talks to insurance and transport industry experts who are worried about the lack of transparency in the charges to motorists.

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