Joe Polley from Parker Car Service: found the AA didn’t cover his two punctures

Business Car Manager: Editor’s Blog

THIS one took me completely off-guard. Yesterday I went along to interview Joe Polley the owner of Parker Car Service, a chauffeur and taxi firm in west London. The feature is for Professional Driver magazine.

We covered a lot of ground, including the resolution of problems or disputes. “As long as you can fix them quickly, then there’s usually not a problem,” Joe said. The company is very much based on providing excellent customer service, but Joe is pragmatic enough to understand that lapses, for whatever reason, do sometimes happen.

However, Joe went on to provide an example where you don’t get the service you expect and it affects your relationship with the provider. “I was in my car and had a double puncture. It’s very unusual. I fixed one wheel but obviously I couldn’t the other. So I called the AA.

“When they arrived, they said that because I had hit a pothole that constituted a road traffic accident and not a breakdown. So they couldn’t help me under the terms of my membership. They could tow me home for