FOI release

Number of Motorway Vehicle Breakdowns 2014-24

Case reference FOI2025/00360

Received 21 February 2025

Published 24 April 2025

Request

1. Please provide information on the number of breakdowns on English motorways between 1st January 2014 (inclusive) and 31st December 2024 (inclusive), split by year and month.

2. Please provide the number of breakdowns on English motorways between 1st January 2023 (inclusive) and 31st December 2024 (inclusive) split by year and motorway. Please also include the number of breakdowns on English motorways split by county for the same time period.

3. Please provide information on the number of breakdowns on smart motorways in England between 1st January 2019 (inclusive) and 31st December 2024 (inclusive) split by year. Please also provide information on the number of breakdowns on non-smart motorways in England over the same time period.

Clarification received 21 February 2025:

I can confirm that I would be happy to receive the number of breakdowns split by police force area, instead of by county.

Response

Please find attached a spread-sheet containing the requested data.

NB this is operational data only and is only representative of the breakdowns that are reported to us, not every motorway breakdown on the strategic road network.

Please visit our Road Safety pages for advice on safe driving on motorways, including if you need to stop on a motorway without a hard shoulder, and if you break down in a live lane or in roadworks.

Documents

This is National Highways' response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

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