Woman made to wait 20 hours for RAC rescue had to shelter with strangers

The RAC told O’Brien she would be charged for another call-out if she took a taxi home for the night. Photograph: Gary Hider/Alamy

A 62-year-old woman had to spend the night in a stranger’s house when the RAC took 20 hours to recover her stranded car after it broke down in a remote country lane.

Harriet O’Brien said she was repeatedly promised help within the hour after her engine failed on a remote Gloucestershire lane an hour’s drive from her home.