Broken down on the M9? What to do, step by step
What to do in the first minute, where to stand, how to describe your location on the M9 and what the recovery truck does when it arrives.
If you are broken down on the M9, the next five minutes matter more than the next five hours. The motorway between Kilcullen and Waterford is fast, mostly unlit between the junctions, and the hard shoulder is a lot narrower than it feels from the driver's seat. This is the advice we give every customer who rings us from the hard shoulder, written down so you can read it before you ever need it.
Kilkenny Recovery Truck covers the full length of the M9 from our base at Three Castles, a few minutes north of Kilkenny city. We are at the Kilkenny junctions, Paulstown to Knocktopher, in 20 to 35 minutes most of the time. The number is 087 288 2280 and it goes straight to Mark, day or night.
The first minute: get off the carriageway
The moment the engine loses power, a warning light comes on, or the car starts to pull or shake, indicate left and get on to the hard shoulder. Do not try to make the next junction unless you can already see it. A car that coasts to a stop in lane one is in far more danger than a car on the hard shoulder with a flat tyre.
- Put your hazard lights on straight away, before you have even stopped.
- Steer as far left as the hard shoulder allows. Hug the verge, not the white line.
- Turn the wheels to the left, so that if the car is hit from behind it is pushed away from the traffic rather than into it.
- If it is dark or foggy, leave the sidelights on as well as the hazards.
- If you cannot reach the hard shoulder and you are stopped in a live lane, stay belted in, keep the hazards on and ring 112 or 999 immediately.
Get out and get behind the barrier
Once you are stopped, everyone gets out through the doors on the passenger side, away from traffic. That includes the driver, even if it means climbing across. Go over or around the crash barrier and stand on the embankment side, well back from the road and a good distance behind the car. If the car is hit while it sits on the hard shoulder, you do not want to be standing beside it or in front of it.
Put on a high visibility vest if you have one. Keep children by the hand and keep dogs on a lead or leave them in the car. Do not stand on the hard shoulder to make phone calls and do not walk along the motorway to the next junction. The only time to stay in the car is if you genuinely cannot get out safely, for example if you are stuck in a live lane. In that case keep your seatbelt on and the hazards going.
One more rule that surprises people: do not put a warning triangle out on a motorway. The RSA's advice is clear on this. Walking back along the hard shoulder to place a triangle is one of the most dangerous things you can do, and the triangle does very little for traffic doing 120 km/h.
How to tell us exactly where you are on the M9
The thing that most delays an M9 recovery is a vague location. Somewhere past Carlow could be 40 kilometres of road in two directions. Before you ring anyone, gather four things.
- Direction of travel. Northbound means you are heading towards Carlow, Kilcullen and Dublin. Southbound means towards Kilkenny, Mullinavat and Waterford.
- The last junction you passed and the next one coming up. The M9 junctions through Kilkenny are J7 Paulstown, J8 Kilkenny North (the N10), J9 Danesfort, J10 Knocktopher, J11 Mullinavat and J12 at the Waterford end. If you are not sure, say what you last saw on a sign.
- The blue location reference sign on the verge. These are posted every 500 metres and give the route, the direction and a distance figure. Read the whole thing out exactly as it appears. There are also small markings on the hard shoulder every 100 metres that do the same job.
- A map pin if you have signal. Dropping a pin in Google Maps or sharing your live location on WhatsApp takes ten seconds and removes any doubt. The Eircode Finder app will give you the Eircode of the nearest property, which is handy on ordinary roads but less useful on the motorway, so treat it as a backup to the pin.
Who to ring, and in what order
If anyone is hurt, or the car is stopped in a live lane, ring 112 or 999 first. Nothing else comes before that. The Gardai will get the lane protected and the ambulance moving if it is needed.
If you are safely on the hard shoulder and nobody is hurt, you have a few options. The Motorway Traffic Control Centre on 0818 715 100 monitors the national motorway network and can log your breakdown and warn traffic on the signs. If you have breakdown cover with your insurer, ring the number on your policy next. Insurers generally need to arrange the recovery themselves through their own contractors, so a truck you book yourself is usually not something you can claim back later. If you have no cover, or the insurer's wait time is longer than you can sit behind a barrier, ring Kilkenny Recovery Truck on 087 288 2280 and we will give you a price and an honest arrival time before the truck moves.
When you ring us, have the registration, the make and model, how many people are with you, and whether the car is an automatic, a four wheel drive or an electric vehicle. All of those change how we load it.
Why you should not try to fix it on the hard shoulder
People are killed and badly injured on hard shoulders every year while changing a wheel or looking under a bonnet. Lorries drift. Tired drivers follow the tail lights of a stopped car. A hard shoulder is about three metres wide and a truck mirror sticks out well past the white line. Even a job you could do in your sleep on your own driveway, like a wheel change, is not worth it there.
Our own rule is simple. On the motorway we recover first and fix later. We will winch or drive your car on to the flatbed, get you and your passengers into the cab, and take you to the next junction or a safe lay-by. If it turns out to be a flat tyre, a dead battery or an empty tank, we deal with it there, off the motorway, where nobody is doing 120 km/h past your elbow. If it is more than that, we bring the car on to Webster's Garage at Three Castles or wherever you want it.
What happens when the recovery truck arrives
You will see the amber beacons first. The driver will pull in behind your car at an angle, so the truck sits between you and the traffic. Stay behind the barrier until he waves you over. He needs a minute to set up and look at the car.
The car goes on the flatbed either under its own power, if it still drives, or on the winch. A car with a seized wheel, a locked steering column or a flat battery goes on with skates or dollies under the wheels. Electric cars and automatics always go on the bed fully, never dragged on their wheels. Loading takes five to ten minutes. Then everyone gets into the cab, the driver straps the car down, and you leave the motorway at the next junction.
We do not carry out roadside repairs on the M9 itself, and neither should anyone else. Once off the motorway, the driver will tell you straight whether it is a quick fix or a garage job, and what the options are.
What a motorway recovery costs
The price depends on where you are, where the car needs to go, the time of night and the kind of vehicle. We agree it with you on the phone before the truck leaves Three Castles, so there is no surprise at the roadside. There is no call-out fee and no membership. You can pay by card, cash or bank transfer. A short hop from the Kilkenny junctions back into the city costs a lot less than a run from the Waterford end at three in the morning, and we will tell you which is which before you commit to anything.
If a passing driver or a tow operator you have never heard of turns up offering to tow you, ask for a price before anything is hooked up and check they are using a flatbed. Rope towing on a motorway is dangerous and, for most modern cars, it will cause damage.
- M9 junctions guide: every exit from Kilcullen to Waterford
- Hard shoulder rules Ireland: when you can and cannot stop
- Ran out of fuel on the motorway? What to do on the M9 and beyond
- M9 junctions guide: every exit from Kilcullen to Waterford
- Ran out of fuel on the motorway? What to do on the M9 and beyond
Questions people ask about this
Can I stay in the car on the M9 hard shoulder if it is raining?
No, unless you genuinely cannot get out safely. The car is the most likely thing on the hard shoulder to be hit. Get out on the passenger side, get behind the barrier and put a coat on. We will have you in a warm cab soon enough.
How long will Kilkenny Recovery Truck take to reach me on the M9?
From Three Castles we are usually at Paulstown, Kilkenny North and Danesfort in 20 to 25 minutes, at Knocktopher in around 30 minutes, and at Mullinavat or the Waterford end in 35 to 50 minutes. The northern junctions in Carlow and Kildare take longer. You get a real figure when you ring, not a guess.
Should I ring 112 for an ordinary breakdown on the motorway?
Ring 112 or 999 if anyone is injured, if the car is in a live lane, or if there is debris on the road. For a normal breakdown on the hard shoulder with everyone safe behind the barrier, the Motorway Traffic Control Centre on 0818 715 100 and then your insurer or a recovery operator is the right order.
Will my insurer cover the recovery if I ring you directly?
Usually not. Most Irish breakdown policies need you to ring the insurer's own line so they can send their contractor. If you have that cover, use it first. If you have no cover, or you have been told to wait two hours behind a barrier in the dark, ring us and we will quote before we move.