A LONE woman walked two miles home along dark, country lanes after the AA advised her to walk home.

Victoria Cockayne was stranded in rural Worcestershire on Friday, February 26, when her car broke down.

The 40-year-old, who had been walking her two dogs at Crews Hill Wood Nature Reserve in Alfrick, phoned the AA for help, to be eventually told by an operator, “I suggest you should start walking home”.

Mrs Cockayne, the practice manager of a veterinary surgery in Malvern, is angry with the breakdown service and the position she feels it put her in.

Together with her husband, she pays £396 a year for the most comprehensive breakdown cover available.

Mrs Cockayne said: “I was absolutely freezing. I couldn’t feel my feet and all I wanted to do was get home.

“There wasn’t any fear because I know my female Lurcher would never let anyone near me, but the man on the phone didn’t know that.

“I could have been raped or murdered. If it had just been me I would have stayed there, but my biggest concern was for the dogs. One of them is on medication and was already late taking it.”

Mrs Cockayne, of Suckley, walked two miles along unlit country lanes and every time a car passed by, she had to squeeze close to the hedgerows to avoid being hit.

She had originally called the AA’s emergency number at 6.10pm and was told a roadside assistance and recovery van would be with her in about 45 minutes.

At 7pm, she called back and was told they were sending a local garage. But Mrs Cockayne, who says she had previously encountered problems with that particular garage, asked for an AA van.

She was told that would take at least an hour and a half because the service was extremely busy. The operator tried to book a taxi instead, but could not because some firms refused to take the dogs and others were busy.

Mrs Cockayne said: “That was when he suggested I started walking home. I was just furious.

“I thought lone female drivers were their priority. What would have happened if it wasn’t someone capable of getting home on their own?”

An AA spokesman confirmed there were difficulties that evening due to high demand and that Mrs Cockayne had declined the services of a local garage.

The spokesman said that, after taxi firms had been unable to attend, Mrs Cockayne said she could walk across the fields to her home in less time.

He said: “At this point, she was on the phone to a different call handler who mistakenly advised her to do this while they continued to try different taxi firms. The call handler shouldn’t have done this and should instead have explored other options.

“A few minutes later, we found a taxi company that would take dogs but Mrs Cockayne declined this as she was already on her way home. An AA patrol later attended her car.”