Beware of being mugged by the Highways agency 'officer'
Discussion
sixspeed said:
For all those that can't make sense of it, AI proves its worth...
Me: Please can you decipher what this forum post is about:
ChatGPT:
The forum post is a complaint about a situation where the author's car broke down on a grass verge between junction 28 and 29 of a motorway, and a recovery company allegedly lied about having footage of the car on the live lane and charged £192 for a relay down the motorway to Tibshelf services. The author argues that their car was not on the live lane and was only six feet away from the white line on the grass verge. The author requested a relay through their insurer, but the recovery company cancelled it and sent a police officer to force the author to pay for their services. The author also claims that the recovery company lied about the ETA and threatened to strand the author and their car in their yard if they didn't pay. The author describes the situation as "daylight robbery/conspiracy" and questions how such a thing could happen in the United Kingdom.
Happy to help.
Wow, if AI managed to decipher the initial post so accurately then that is very impressive. Me: Please can you decipher what this forum post is about:
- original post not quoted for brevity **
ChatGPT:
The forum post is a complaint about a situation where the author's car broke down on a grass verge between junction 28 and 29 of a motorway, and a recovery company allegedly lied about having footage of the car on the live lane and charged £192 for a relay down the motorway to Tibshelf services. The author argues that their car was not on the live lane and was only six feet away from the white line on the grass verge. The author requested a relay through their insurer, but the recovery company cancelled it and sent a police officer to force the author to pay for their services. The author also claims that the recovery company lied about the ETA and threatened to strand the author and their car in their yard if they didn't pay. The author describes the situation as "daylight robbery/conspiracy" and questions how such a thing could happen in the United Kingdom.
Happy to help.
I wonder how it feels to have written that sloppy mess at the start of the thread, only for AI to effortlessly improve it to such an extent.
dhutch said:
the interior was absolutely full of muddy boots on the seats... and my friends family hairloom watch missing.
Aside from the obvious idiocy of sending a family heirloom watch with the car, could you not have sold the multitude of boots left in the car to pay for the fines?Baldchap said:
Aside from the obvious idiocy of sending a family heirloom watch with the car...
Obviously at the point in time it happened, I was a little bit shaken up, and not thinking completely clearly. I'd recently hit standing water a 50mph and passengered it into a teligragh pole on what should have been a routine drive meet up with some mates for the weekend. I'm not even completely sure if the freinds watch was in the car or not, I had been holding if for then till we next met, water under the bridge. It wasn't a valuable peice but had sentimental value obviously. They had left it by mistake a few months earlier.
However as said, the car was clearly not looked after well and a lot of needless damage was done, and expense incurred.
The police also tore me off a strip for not staying with the car, despite there being no signal at the location. Hence hitchhiking up the road to the nearest small town.
I would love the respect their work, but sadly everytime I have any interaction with them they behave as entitled a
holes. I've copied and pasted the OP's post into ChatGPT and asked it to correct spelling and grammar for British English. I think I now understand what the issue was, and do agree with the OP that in an unfortunate situation such as this, it does sound like a bit of a rip-off :-
The photo clearly shows the Toyota LCruiser on the grass verge, yet the lying people between J28 and 29 claimed they had footage of the vehicle broken down on the live lane. They lied because they wanted £192 for a 3/4-mile 'relay' down the motorway to Tibshelf services. I was informed by the Birmingham more powerful complaint chap who said they should not have done that without a 'stat.' I asked what a 'stat' was, and he said my vehicle was seen on the live lane broken down. So, I said I'd better send photos of it on the grass, 6 foot from the lane white line.
To reinforce their wishes to get me onto 'their' relay truck, they had already cancelled the relay I had requested through our insurer and sent a nasty cop to browbeat me into paying the money. As a neutral, he agreed with the highways traffic woman that although it was 50 yards from an iron Gantry with a rail and on the grass verge, as well as the inner lane being closed, our car with its hazards flashing was still a danger on that grass verge.
His impatience to get me pulled onto their truck matched the Highways agency easily. When I said, "You can tow me anywhere you prefer; I am very used to towing and being towed," within seconds, our car was on that truck, and no amount of complaining would get it off.
Then a reinforcement of their unusual behavior began by saying our insurers did not advise me on my first phone call that the ETA was 2.20, a blatant lie.
Their recovery pulled into the Tibshelf services a few minutes later, and I was told that unless I paid on this number, I would have to get out and be stranded, and our vehicle would be put in their 'Yard.' I had to ask, "Where is your yard?" -Alfreton. To put a stop to this ridiculous situation, I had to accept their daylight robbery/conspiracy and pay who I thought was the Highways agency. It was not the Highways agency but the National Vehicle Recovery Manager. How can this happen in the United Kingdom?
The photo clearly shows the Toyota LCruiser on the grass verge, yet the lying people between J28 and 29 claimed they had footage of the vehicle broken down on the live lane. They lied because they wanted £192 for a 3/4-mile 'relay' down the motorway to Tibshelf services. I was informed by the Birmingham more powerful complaint chap who said they should not have done that without a 'stat.' I asked what a 'stat' was, and he said my vehicle was seen on the live lane broken down. So, I said I'd better send photos of it on the grass, 6 foot from the lane white line.
To reinforce their wishes to get me onto 'their' relay truck, they had already cancelled the relay I had requested through our insurer and sent a nasty cop to browbeat me into paying the money. As a neutral, he agreed with the highways traffic woman that although it was 50 yards from an iron Gantry with a rail and on the grass verge, as well as the inner lane being closed, our car with its hazards flashing was still a danger on that grass verge.
His impatience to get me pulled onto their truck matched the Highways agency easily. When I said, "You can tow me anywhere you prefer; I am very used to towing and being towed," within seconds, our car was on that truck, and no amount of complaining would get it off.
Then a reinforcement of their unusual behavior began by saying our insurers did not advise me on my first phone call that the ETA was 2.20, a blatant lie.
Their recovery pulled into the Tibshelf services a few minutes later, and I was told that unless I paid on this number, I would have to get out and be stranded, and our vehicle would be put in their 'Yard.' I had to ask, "Where is your yard?" -Alfreton. To put a stop to this ridiculous situation, I had to accept their daylight robbery/conspiracy and pay who I thought was the Highways agency. It was not the Highways agency but the National Vehicle Recovery Manager. How can this happen in the United Kingdom?
dhutch said:
In fairly, I've been shafted for the same when I aquaplanned into a ditch on a B-road.
Prevented my recovery recovering it as 'their truck wasn't big enough' and then took my car twice as far as it needed moving, in the wrong direction, and imponded it on a Friday night and where completely uncontactable till Monday. By which time I was both in work, and liabile for three days storage charges as well as the recovery cost, and had absolutely no way to fight or contest it.
Had it recovered around the corner to a local scrapyard to avoid the fees, by which time the interior was absolutely full of muddy boots on the seats, several wheels removed, a door card destroyed, and my friends family hairloom watch missing. Obviously neither party admitted any off it.
I was about 24 at the time, recently bought my first house, and fairly strapped for cash, the unwanted several hundred pounds woeth of fees, same again in damage, and the car being in Stoke not Uttoxeter was the last thing I need in addition to crashing in the first place.
Tossers.
Daniel
Uttoxeter? Three pints of damn and a chaser of hell-blast! Prevented my recovery recovering it as 'their truck wasn't big enough' and then took my car twice as far as it needed moving, in the wrong direction, and imponded it on a Friday night and where completely uncontactable till Monday. By which time I was both in work, and liabile for three days storage charges as well as the recovery cost, and had absolutely no way to fight or contest it.
Had it recovered around the corner to a local scrapyard to avoid the fees, by which time the interior was absolutely full of muddy boots on the seats, several wheels removed, a door card destroyed, and my friends family hairloom watch missing. Obviously neither party admitted any off it.
I was about 24 at the time, recently bought my first house, and fairly strapped for cash, the unwanted several hundred pounds woeth of fees, same again in damage, and the car being in Stoke not Uttoxeter was the last thing I need in addition to crashing in the first place.
Tossers.
Daniel
Edited by dhutch on Wednesday 19th April 22:52
sixspeed said:
For all those that can't make sense of it, AI proves its worth...
Me: Please can you decipher what this forum post is about:
ChatGPT:
The forum post is a complaint about a situation where the author's car broke down on a grass verge between junction 28 and 29 of a motorway, and a recovery company allegedly lied about having footage of the car on the live lane and charged £192 for a relay down the motorway to Tibshelf services. The author argues that their car was not on the live lane and was only six feet away from the white line on the grass verge. The author requested a relay through their insurer, but the recovery company cancelled it and sent a police officer to force the author to pay for their services. The author also claims that the recovery company lied about the ETA and threatened to strand the author and their car in their yard if they didn't pay. The author describes the situation as "daylight robbery/conspiracy" and questions how such a thing could happen in the United Kingdom.
Happy to help.
How does it do that?Me: Please can you decipher what this forum post is about:
- original post not quoted for brevity **
ChatGPT:
The forum post is a complaint about a situation where the author's car broke down on a grass verge between junction 28 and 29 of a motorway, and a recovery company allegedly lied about having footage of the car on the live lane and charged £192 for a relay down the motorway to Tibshelf services. The author argues that their car was not on the live lane and was only six feet away from the white line on the grass verge. The author requested a relay through their insurer, but the recovery company cancelled it and sent a police officer to force the author to pay for their services. The author also claims that the recovery company lied about the ETA and threatened to strand the author and their car in their yard if they didn't pay. The author describes the situation as "daylight robbery/conspiracy" and questions how such a thing could happen in the United Kingdom.
Happy to help.
AI finally has a use. Deciphering jibberish.
sixspeed said:
For all those that can't make sense of it, AI proves its worth...
Me: Please can you decipher what this forum post is about:
ChatGPT:
The forum post is a complaint about a situation where the author's car broke down on a grass verge between junction 28 and 29 of a motorway, and a recovery company allegedly lied about having footage of the car on the live lane and charged £192 for a relay down the motorway to Tibshelf services. The author argues that their car was not on the live lane and was only six feet away from the white line on the grass verge. The author requested a relay through their insurer, but the recovery company cancelled it and sent a police officer to force the author to pay for their services. The author also claims that the recovery company lied about the ETA and threatened to strand the author and their car in their yard if they didn't pay. The author describes the situation as "daylight robbery/conspiracy" and questions how such a thing could happen in the United Kingdom.
Happy to help.
Here's google's Bard AI version for comparison, although I asked it to rewrite it to make it more readily understandable:Me: Please can you decipher what this forum post is about:
- original post not quoted for brevity **
ChatGPT:
The forum post is a complaint about a situation where the author's car broke down on a grass verge between junction 28 and 29 of a motorway, and a recovery company allegedly lied about having footage of the car on the live lane and charged £192 for a relay down the motorway to Tibshelf services. The author argues that their car was not on the live lane and was only six feet away from the white line on the grass verge. The author requested a relay through their insurer, but the recovery company cancelled it and sent a police officer to force the author to pay for their services. The author also claims that the recovery company lied about the ETA and threatened to strand the author and their car in their yard if they didn't pay. The author describes the situation as "daylight robbery/conspiracy" and questions how such a thing could happen in the United Kingdom.
Happy to help.
"I had a breakdown on the M1 between junctions 28 and 29. My car was on the grass verge, with its hazard lights flashing. A Highways Agency traffic woman arrived and said that my car was still a danger, even though it was on the grass verge. She called for a police officer, who agreed with her. The police officer said that I had to pay £192 for my car to be towed to Tibshelf services. I refused to pay, as I believed that my car was not in a dangerous position. The police officer threatened to leave me stranded on the motorway, so I paid the money. I later found out that the Highways Agency had lied about having footage of my car on the live lane. I am very angry about this experience, and I am considering making a complaint."
DaveyBoyWonder said:
You know you're in trouble when you need readers to decipher your posts via AI to make them marginally understandable. ChatGPT gathering info like this is all playing into its hands when it decides to start a nuclear war...
It won't be a nuclear war as surely the resultant EMP would kill the AI as well... But on the flip side: there needs to be a power to shift broken down cars speedily.
Whilst I have breakdown insurance, and I'm sure others on here do: I doubt everyone does.
And even breakdown companies can take a number of hours. So what happens if plod want a car gone, and they just sit and insist their mate is coming down in a van to give them a tow? Or pick them up to come back next day to fix it?
£192 for a recovery on a motorway isn't that bad. It's quite a lot (especially if you've paid £150 for annual insurance as well) but its not extortionate.
It's just one of those things, like a puncture, an illness, the roof leaking. The social benefit of clearing roads quickly of stranded vehicles is greater than the private cost to the OP.
So I'm afraid I can't get too upset about this.
Whilst I have breakdown insurance, and I'm sure others on here do: I doubt everyone does.
And even breakdown companies can take a number of hours. So what happens if plod want a car gone, and they just sit and insist their mate is coming down in a van to give them a tow? Or pick them up to come back next day to fix it?
£192 for a recovery on a motorway isn't that bad. It's quite a lot (especially if you've paid £150 for annual insurance as well) but its not extortionate.
It's just one of those things, like a puncture, an illness, the roof leaking. The social benefit of clearing roads quickly of stranded vehicles is greater than the private cost to the OP.
So I'm afraid I can't get too upset about this.
Magikarp said:
dhutch said:
In fairly, I've been shafted for the same when I aquaplanned into a ditch on a B-road.
Prevented my recovery recovering it as 'their truck wasn't big enough' and then took my car twice as far as it needed moving, in the wrong direction, and imponded it on a Friday night and where completely uncontactable till Monday. By which time I was both in work, and liabile for three days storage charges as well as the recovery cost, and had absolutely no way to fight or contest it.
Had it recovered around the corner to a local scrapyard to avoid the fees, by which time the interior was absolutely full of muddy boots on the seats, several wheels removed, a door card destroyed, and my friends family hairloom watch missing. Obviously neither party admitted any off it.
I was about 24 at the time, recently bought my first house, and fairly strapped for cash, the unwanted several hundred pounds woeth of fees, same again in damage, and the car being in Stoke not Uttoxeter was the last thing I need in addition to crashing in the first place.
Tossers.
Daniel
Uttoxeter? Three pints of damn and a chaser of hell-blast! Prevented my recovery recovering it as 'their truck wasn't big enough' and then took my car twice as far as it needed moving, in the wrong direction, and imponded it on a Friday night and where completely uncontactable till Monday. By which time I was both in work, and liabile for three days storage charges as well as the recovery cost, and had absolutely no way to fight or contest it.
Had it recovered around the corner to a local scrapyard to avoid the fees, by which time the interior was absolutely full of muddy boots on the seats, several wheels removed, a door card destroyed, and my friends family hairloom watch missing. Obviously neither party admitted any off it.
I was about 24 at the time, recently bought my first house, and fairly strapped for cash, the unwanted several hundred pounds woeth of fees, same again in damage, and the car being in Stoke not Uttoxeter was the last thing I need in addition to crashing in the first place.
Tossers.
Daniel
Edited by dhutch on Wednesday 19th April 22:52
I'm glad someone else can't see/hear Uttoxeter without thinking of Fry and Laurie.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff