Secrets of the anti-aircraft patrol: “There was no car, he wanted me to fix the scooter”

“Every day at this job is very different, and you never know exactly where you will end up. I’ve been with A.A. for more than seven years – this year I was A.A. Patrol of the Year – and I do this job because I’ve always wanted to help people. There is nothing more annoying than being on the side of the road in a dangerous situation.

The working day can last from seven in the morning to five in the evening, and there may be longer shifts, sometimes up to 11 hours. I like flexibility. When I check in in the morning, either I already have work in my schedule or I am sent to a prominent place where people can collapse, such as supermarkets, malls. On average, I do five or six jobs a day. Where I live in North Yorkshire there can be quite long commutes between work as it is an uninhabited area. But if you are patrolling London or Birmingham, Manchester, for example, these guys can do up to 10 jobs a day.

Of course, each question is individual, but we spend an average of 30 minutes on each job. That’s the goal: get people back on the road within half an hour. The most common faults are 12V batteries that need to be charged or flat tires. This is probably a third of all our work.

Cars are smarter these days, but there are still issues, issues with software or the fact that computers don’t talk to each other. They say electric cars don’t break down that often, but you don’t see as many cars on the road as conventionally powered cars, do you?

When I get to the car, the check engine light is likely to come on. So the customer called us. There could be a thousand different reasons. If the engine management system has detected a malfunction in another system, this is not necessarily a serious problem, unless other symptoms are present, such as a malfunction. B. loss of performance. So when we see the engine light come on, we begin our diagnosis by reading the trouble codes and this gives us a direction to begin the process. Sometimes easy, sometimes quite deep. There are a lot of electronics in cars today, so there are a lot of cables. If the cable breaks, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Breakdowns on freeways are the worst. Before arrival, we contact the client to make sure that he is in a safe place. The last thing we want is for them to be trafficked. When we get there, we need to keep our eyes on the background to make sure the scene is as safe as possible. We always ask customers to park their car in the emergency shelter area as soon as possible – if You can. And if they can’t, we will. You don’t want to be around cars that are traveling at 70 mph for longer than necessary.

Some callouts get stuck in memory. Once, during self-isolation, I was called to a man. He’s been with us for over 50 years and I was told he ran out of gas at home. When I arrived, there were no cars in the driveway.

I knocked on his door, he was quite old and he apologized for calling and admitted that he didn’t really have a car, no more. But he had a scooter. He had three flat tires, didn’t go out for weeks and had to go to a workshop. So I pumped up his tires, made sure they weren’t punctured, and got him on the road safely.

Another great thing is people lock their keys in their cars. This can be quite difficult when small children are cooped up indoors, especially on a hot day. Parents can be very angry when you come to them. But many people are very nervous when they call us. They collapsed; they are afraid. We always try to stay calm, because the last thing they want is for us to panic.

Some people are grumpy, a little irritable, and I guess you can’t please everyone, but most people, 99 percent of them, are extremely grateful when they see us coming. After all, we are here to fix your car. Some people hug me, they are so happy.”