The M4 between junctions 8 and 13 is part of our regular patch. A breakdown there is not a Reading back-street job. It is a live carriageway with traffic arriving at 70 miles an hour, and the order of operations is different.
If you can reach the hard shoulder or an emergency refuge area, do that first. Switch the hazards on immediately. Get everyone out through the passenger-side doors and stand behind the barrier, well away from the vehicle. Do not stand on the carriageway taking photos of the puncture.
If you are in a live lane and cannot move, stay in the car with your seatbelt on and call 999 as well as a recovery team. A live-lane vehicle is a police and Highways matter, not something a recovery driver can make safe on their own.
When you ring us, the three things we need are your direction of travel, the last junction you passed, and the marker post number if you can see one. That is enough to put a truck on the right carriageway first time. We cover the M4, the A33, the A329(M) and the A4 as routine work, not as a special trip.
Motorway recoveries are prioritised for safety, which means a car on the hard shoulder will usually be reached before a car on a driveway. We will tell you that on the call so the person waiting at home understands why.
Once we arrive, the vehicle is loaded from the passenger side wherever possible and taken to the garage or address you choose. If you do not want to travel in the truck, say so. We can arrange a follow-on or wait with you for a lift.