REPATRIATING RUBY.

Or; One man's experience of the European Recovery Scheme.

In June 2007 Alison and I took part in the ANVE “3 Valleys Rally” in Northern Pay d’Loire, France using a borrowed 1933 A7 2 seat tourer. We enjoyed the experience so much that subsequently we purchased, in the UK, a 1937 ARR Ruby and decide that we would enter her for the 2008 “3 Valleys Rally”.

Prior to the “3 Valleys” we put about 1,000 miles on the clock of the Ruby and, other than a few minor problems (all sorted) she drove very well.

So, without too much trepidation, we drove her from Shrewsbury down to Portsmouth and onto the ferry for Caen and subsequently from Caen to our cottage in Pay d’Loire where we were to spend the night. Bright and early next morning we drove to Argentan to start the 4 day rally; uneventful so far.

Towards the end of the first day we were grinding up a long winding hill in third, about 20 kms from the hotel that was the overnight accommodation at Alencon, when the engine emitted unusual, and to me, expensive sounding noises. Initial inspection showed nothing obviously untoward so we continued, very gently, to the hotel.

On the hotel car park we benefited from informed speculation, in several languages as to possible causes of the trouble. In the event, it transpired that none of the speculation was accurate but I didn’t know that at the time; the one thing that was clear to me was that whatever it was I couldn’t fix it there (despite a fairly comprehensive box of spares) or indeed in France, and that we would be unable to continue with the rally.

At this point we were feeling pretty dejected (not least because hotels for the following three nights had been booked and paid for!) until a very dear friend (owner of the car we had borrowed the previous year) said “my place is only 20 miles from here, drive her back there gently, put her in my garage, come back in the 2 seater you used last year and finish the rally in that” Bless him!!

This we did, with John Worthy keeping me company in the Ruby and David Smith shadowing us in his Healey 100/4 in case we didn’t make it. It was the sort of occasion when one is grateful for one’s friends! We arrived safely, exchanged cars and returned to Alencon at about 10.30 pm where we managed to find a brasserie still serving meals – we hadn’t eaten since lunchtime. Steak and chips never tasted better! To cut a long story short we completed a very enjoyable rally in the borrowed 2 seater but still had the problem of how to get the Ruby home.

Fortunately, we had taken advantage of the excellent A7CA insurance scheme offered by Richardson Hosken which allegedly included “vehicle recovery on a European wide basis”. Now, being aware of the very reasonable premium which I had paid, I was somewhat cynical about what this recovery scheme might actually cover but, with no sensible alternative springing to mind, decided to call the published International Free phone number the following day.

Wednesday 11th June

After breakfast on Wednesday I called the Free phone number and my cynicism reached a new high after spending 15 minutes listening to an announcement that “All operators are busy” (in English) then, a few moments later, a human voice, I was speaking to a lady in a call centre in Holland and she spoke reasonable English!! Here followed a 35 minute conversation as she collected all relevant information about vehicle location, insurance details, my telephone number, etc. etc. Eventually she said that she had everything that she needed and that next I would speak to “one of our agents who deals with recovery in France.” We said goodbye and, with cynicism totally dissipated, I made my second coffee of the day. About half an hour later the telephone rang and a male voice asked, in French, to speak to me by name. It transpired that he spoke no English but he was the recovery mechanic from the garage at a small town (Pre en Pail) some 25 kms away. He wanted to meet me, at the vehicle, at 1500 hrs to inspect the job; this I agreed to and gave him directions to my friend’s house where the Ruby still was. Fortunately, after eleven years of owning a place in France, my French, whilst being by no means fluent, is reasonable but, this telephone conversation had been a little difficult as it involved vocabulary, associated with recovery, that I was unfamiliar with.

At 1450 hrs we arrived at my friend’s in the Clio, which he had swapped for the 2 seater A7 after the rally, (no shortage of cars, or generosity here!) to find the Recovery man already there. We showed him the Ruby and he insisted that I demonstrate the engine noises to him so that he could be reassured that it wasn’t feasible to effect repairs locally. He agreed but, at this point a couple of problems arose. Firstly, his recovery truck wasn’t a true “Beaver tail” but a tilting flatbed with extensible ramps issuing from slots below the flatbed and it was possible to drive the Ruby between them without touching either! It was his first acquaintance with cars which had track widths of A7 proportions. After much measuring and Gallic mumbling (he really was Mr. Grumpy today) he announced that on the day of recovery he would arrive with a different vehicle and a trailer that would do the job. So far so good but, then the second problem surfaced. I had told both the call centre, and him that the ferry on which we were booked sailed at 2359 hrs from treham (approximately 2 hours drive away) on Saturday 14th June. He said that he would collect Alison, the Ruby, and me at 0700 hrs on Saturday. I said this was ridiculously early so he compromised and said 0800 hrs. I said still far too early so, after much mumbling and moaning he said that the very latest he could do it would be 0900. I was very unhappy with this and rang the call centre again; I explained the situation and asked them to try and find me a different recovery agent. They were OK with this and agreed that being left to amuse ourselves for more than 13 hours on a windswept dockside was unreasonable. They said that they would call me back; this was at about 1530 hrs.

As 1800 hrs came and went I thought “Well, they won’t call today now” but, just after 1900 hrs the phone rang and it was another Dutch lady at the call centre. She said that she had tried many agents locally but no-one wanted a job on Saturday afternoon/evening (bear in mind that this was the weekend of the Le Mans 24 hour Race, and we were only 35 miles north of Le Mans!). However, she had gone back to the original recovery man who had relented and was now saying that he would pick us up at 1700 hrs Saturday. Much better! –If the Ruby fitted on the trailer which we hadn’t seen.

I asked the Dutch lady if we could organise the recovery at the England end whilst she was on. She said that they only dealt with mainland Europe and that I would have to ring the number for recovery in England; I thanked her and we parted. The next day, Thursday, at about 1100 hrs I called the UK Breakdown Assistance number on my contact card. After a short wait in a queue the call was answered and I explained our situation but was told that they only dealt with “real time” situations and that I should call them, from the ferry, about one hour before we docked at Portsmouth to make the arrangements but, they aimed to have a recovery vehicle respond to calls within one hour; fair enough.

Saturday 14th June

At noon, whilst I was down the lane saying goodbye to our neighbours, the recovery man from Pre en Pail rang. Alison couldn’t understand his French so he said he would call back in a few minutes. Alison rang my mobile and I returned home suspicious that “Mr Grumpy” might be trying it on for a much earlier collection than agreed! He called back as promised but only to confirm arrangements and to ask if we would meet him, at the vehicle, at 1630 hrs to facilitate loading, to which I readily agreed.

We arrived at the Ruby early to return the Clio and say our goodbyes and “Thank you” to our friends, David and Sylvia. We transferred our luggage to the Ruby and were having a coffee when “Mr Grumpy” arrived; same vehicle as before and no trailer – my heart sank! I needn’t have worried, he was like a different man he proudly showed us that he had welded an extra bracket to the rear of the flatbed to allow one of the ramps to be repositioned to accommodate the Ruby’s narrow track (see photo). He was friendly and helpful – he must have just had a bad day the previous Wednesday. The Ruby was loaded without a problem and we set off about 1630 hrs followed by David and June in their Healey, who were booked on the same boat.

We chatted amiably all the way to the port. He pointed out his house, which we passed on the way, and told me all about his family. He explained that he couldn’t have taken us later because that evening there was a fete at Pre en Pail followed by a firework display and he had promised to take his children to see the fireworks. Fair enough.

We arrived at Ouistreham port around 1900 hrs and after I had explained the situation to the staff on the Brittany Ferries desk we were booked in for the sailing and issued with a permit to take the transporter round to the ferry dock and unload the Ruby. Returning to the terminal, I slipped him €20 – which at first he didn’t want to take, and we parted the best of friends.

 Brittany Ferries staff told me to report to their desk again at 2300hrs to supervise the loading of the Ruby for the 2359 hrs sailing. After a pleasant meal in a nearby restaurant with David and June (Healey 100/4) we returned to Brittany Ferries to be met with by an English member of staff who drove us round to the Ruby, now dwarfed by 40 tonne artics and surrounded by a multinational crowd of admiring HGV drivers. A very polite Security man asked permission to take a photo of the car and was then frustrated because the light wasn’t good enough for his mobile-phone camera. Cutting the story short, loading was accomplished without incident and with good humour – a 2 man push being agreed on as the easiest and safest way. After dumping our gear in the cabin we had a large scotch in the bar before retiring for the night.

Sunday 15th June.

I awoke at 0545 hrs, thanks to the alarm on my mobile, washed dressed and went on deck to call the UK recovery people – no signal, too far from land! After a few minutes, as the Isle of Wight came over the horizon I got O2 at full strength and called the recovery call centre and explained the situation. An Essex accent informed me that he “can’t deal with you now, call back when you are sure of your time of arrival and berth”. Now, I usually perform quite well at 0600 hrs but, as those who knew me when I wore the Royal Coat of Arms on my sleeve could testify, I can, if crossed before my first coffee of the day, turn into a fair facsimile of Attila the Hun. I informed the gentleman that I was calling as previously instructed, that we were travelling on the Mont St. Michael, flagship of the Brittany Ferries fleet – NOT a banana boat, and that we would dock at precisely 0700 hrs, in the only Portsmouth berth ever used by Brittany ferries so, would he please take my details and initiate the recovery. “OK mate, OK, I don’t know Portsmouth. Just give me your details.” Better, much better!! After a coffee and croissants in the cafeteria I was in a reasonable humour again but still anticipated problems on arrival.

0700 hrs we docked and by 0715 hrs all the trucks surrounding the Ruby had departed and a diesel “tug,” used to unload artic trailers, appeared with a huge chain. I pointed out to the driver that, as it was a flat ramp it would be easier and safer just to manually push us off the boat; he agreed and 2 minutes later a couple of smiling crew members arrived to push us off. As we rolled onto the quay side a Brittany Ferries officer with a clip board hurried over and said “There’s your recovery vehicle sir, just push her straight over to it” Magic!

The driver was a young Polish guy who was quite happy for me to tell him where and how to attach the winch strops and was interested in the car. Because of regional cover he took us to a service area on the M40 near Oxford where, after a short wait, we were transferred to another, Oxford based, “Beaver Tail” which brought us all the way home to Shrewsbury and deposited the Ruby on our drive. Home at last!

In conclusion, I believe that the Europe Wide Breakdown and Recovery service incorporated in insurance policies of the Austin 7 Clubs Association’s group scheme, via Richardson Hosken, is incredibly good value for money. Yes, one can experience difficulties of language and misunderstandings that are to be expected whenever one ventures abroad under one’s own steam, but I am, at the end of the day, a very satisfied customer who would entertain no other insurance for my Austin 7s.

The author has no connection with Richardson Hosken group or the A7CA other than a satisfied client and member respectively.