A BORDERS woman has shared how she felt disrespected by vehicle recovery providers – Green Flag and Euroroute – after her car got trapped in mud.

The woman, who we have provided with a pseudonym, Mary, said the “disturbing incident” of January 13 left her feeling “depleted and horrified”.

After taking her daily exercise – walking across Dryburgh Suspension Bridge and the surrounding paths – the 72-year-old returned to her car as it was getting dark.

However, as she manoeuvred her vehicle to leave the car park, she found herself trapped in mud and with every move edged closer to the river bank.

“I was in danger of misjudging the distance,” she said.

Wanting to get home as soon as possible, with temperatures starting to drop, Mary’s son picked her up before she called Green Flag from her home.

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Mary told the Border Telegraph that she advised the Green Flag operator that she was not with her car but had the keys at home, and asked if she or the keys could be collected by the recovery vehicle as due to her mobility problems she would have no way of returning to her vehicle on foot.

She said this was accepted by the operator and that she would be contacted by Euroroute regarding the recovery.

Mary added: “What followed is a saga of incompetence, ill will, hostility ... a fundamental lack of human decency on the part of Green Flag middle management and the operatives of Euroroute, the result of which has left me feeling depleted and horrified.”

She added that she had been "disrespected" by Euroroute – explaining that she did not appreciate the way she was spoken to by representatives during her first contact with the firm.

This newspaper contacted Euroroute for a response to Mary’s claims.

Border Telegraph: 'Mary' (not her real name) felt horrified by the service from recovery providers. Photo: Helen Barrington'Mary' (not her real name) felt horrified by the service from recovery providers. Photo: Helen Barrington

A spokesperson for the company said: “We received the job at 18:19hrs on 13th January 2021, weather conditions were heavy snow fall, very poor driving conditions.

“Job details were that the vehicle was on an un-gritted road covered in ice.

“We issued the job to one of our technicians at 18:26.

“Technician was at the scene with the vehicle at 18:47, he was in a specialist 4x4.

“Our technician was unable to locate the customer (we later found out the customer had gone home with the keys).

“At this point we made contact with Green Flag as per the terms of our contract and the job was put on hold.

“In summary we responded to the call for service and were on scene 28 minutes after receiving the electronic job transfer.”

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Mary explained that from her interaction with Euroroute she subsequently had contact with Green Flag every day until Saturday, January 16, when her vehicle was recovered.

“It took me to lose my temper for something to be done,” she said. “It’s such a shocking way to treat people.”

Mary said that during her correspondence with both companies, no-one had asked her why she could not arrive at her vehicle herself.

She said the treatment she received from Euroroute and Green Flag was "shameful".

A Green Flag spokesperson told this newspaper: “It is our purpose to be there when our members need us and to keep them moving.

“In normal circumstances [Mary’s] vehicle would have been recovered on the same day, but due to extreme weather conditions it was not deemed safe to recover her car.

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“As [Mary] was safe at home, we prioritised the recovery of our members that needed our immediate support, due to being at the roadside with their vehicles – especially during the continued wintery conditions.

“Throughout the management of recovering [Mary’s] car we kept her updated and were conscious of the requirement to establish a recovery that accommodated her needs and when it was safe to do so, a taxi was organised for [Mary] to collect her car.

“Having reviewed the full set of circumstances leading up to recovery, we realise that we could have done more to manage [Mary’s] expectations and informed her earlier of our intention to arrange transport for her as she was clearly distressed and no doubt worried about how she would get to her car.

“To reflect the distress caused in the length of time it took to recover her car, our Customer Relations team have compensated [Mary] with £75 as a gesture of good will.”