THE RAC has disputed a Scottish rockstar's story after he claimed the firm had left him stranded on a motorway for 15 hours.
Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos, who won the Mercury Prize in 2004, first posted on social media about his issue at around 2am on Monday morning, saying he had already been waiting seven hours.
He then continued to post until around 10am, some eight hours later, when he finally confirmed an RAC truck had arrived to help.
However, RAC has disputed the story, claiming it is “factually incorrect”. The firm said the singer was only waiting for one hour and 45 minutes before being put up overnight at a service station.
Hi @TheRAC_UK @RAC_Care. I've been waiting to be picked up from a motorway breakdown for 7 hours. Your operators don't seem to know what is going on. Or say trucks have been dispatched when they haven't. Is this normal? Is this my life now? Waiting for the truck that never comes?
— Alex Kapranos (@alkapranos) September 2, 2024
In his first post, the Scottish rocker wrote: “Hi @TheRAC_UK @RAC_Care. I've been waiting to be picked up from a motorway breakdown for seven hours.
“Your operators don't seem to know what is going on. Or say trucks have been dispatched when they haven't.
“Is this normal? Is this my life now? Waiting for the truck that never comes?”
Kapranos responded to various other users on Twitter/X as the wait time ticked up, writing in one instance: “Still waiting. 12 hours.”
He added: “Insane isn’t it? Last spoke to them at 4am and they said a truck would be there at 7. Called back. No truck dispatched. Astonishing.”
One user wrote at around 9am: “This was six hours ago. I presume you're sorted now, right?”
Kapranos said: “No I’m not. It’s now been 15 hours since I broke down. Still no truck. I was just talked over by an operator who told me why I was ‘a priority’ and a truck would be dispatched when it ‘became available’.
“Oh and @RAC_Care ignore every one of these messages. Mind blowing.”
At just before 10am on Monday, the @RAC_Care wrote in response to the singer: “Hi Alex, I am sorry to read of the delay you have experienced last night and into this morning.
“Could you please kindly DM us your vehicle reg and contact number, so we can get this looked into further for you and what happened during this event. Thanks, Conor.”
Thanks for the reply, Conor. A driver has arrived. 15 hours after I first broke down. Obviously I shall be cancelling my 20 year+ RAC membership as soon as I get home and giving @TheAA_UK a ring. https://t.co/Hj7jgpJL55
— Alex Kapranos (@alkapranos) September 2, 2024
Kapranos responded: “Thanks for the reply, Conor. A driver has arrived. 15 hours after I first broke down.
“Obviously I shall be cancelling my 20 year+ RAC membership as soon as I get home and giving @TheAA_UK a ring.”
An RAC spokesperson told The National that to claim Kapranos had been stuck on the motorway for 15 hours was “factually incorrect”.
They went on: “He wasn’t stuck on the motorway for 15 hours.
“We rescued him 1hr 45mins after he called us and towed him to a motorway services and put him up overnight as per his policy. We sent someone to him again this morning.”