A couple from Hemingstone whose car caught fire on Friday were left in a Tesco car park 20 miles from home after a "misunderstanding" between them and the AA.
Christopher Ford, 71, and his wife Denise, 61, had intended to spend the day visiting Barrow. They set off from their home in Hemingstone, but got caught up in the diversion which is currently taking traffic off the A14 at Junction 42.
The couple became lost following the diversion route and pulled over on Dalham Road between the villages of Ashley and Dalham to consult a map.
“Almost immediately, my wife said, there’s smoke coming from under the bonnet,” said Mr Ford. “Very quickly, the smoke got thicker and became flames.
“We barrelled out of the car, phoned the fire brigade, and stood and watched our car get totally destroyed.”
The diversion route meant the fire rescue service took 45 minutes to reach them, by which time the car was beyond saving.
Mr Ford had also phoned the AA.
A driver for Manchetts, a company which is subcontracted by the AA, arrived to collect them.
Initially, the driver gave them the choice of being driven home, or else being taken to the compound base in Bury St Edmunds and calling a taxi for the 30-mile journey, to be paid for by the AA.
The AA has said the incident stemmed from a misunderstanding of the circumstances.
An AA spokesperson said: "When the member reported this incident, our call agent misunderstood the circumstances and incorrectly arranged for an AA recovery partner to attend.
"If a vehicle is fire damaged enough that the fire service has attended this would not be classed as a mechanical breakdown under the AA's remit. As such, when the recovery partner arrived, it became apparent that the vehicle was irreparable and fell outside of AA membership entitlement."
Mr Ford he spent hours on the phone but the AA were "totally immovable".
“Very quickly, it turned out that the driver was told by his manager that he couldn’t take us all the way home,” said Mr Ford.
“I got on the phone to the AA, and said we really need the recovery to home, but they refused. They said the recovery contractor would drop us off in near Tesco in Bury St Edmunds, and we could get a taxi from there, but we’d have to pay for it ourselves.
Being new to the area, Mr and Mrs Ford were unsure how they would go about getting home.
Luckily, a friend happened to call and volunteered to drive over from Hemingstone to collect them.
Since Friday, Mr Ford has not received any explanation for the AA’s refusal.
“We paid for recovery home, and they failed to provide it. It’s that simple.
An AA spokesperson said: "As the vehicle wasn’t in a suitable condition to be left or recovered to a residential area, out of courtesy, our partner agreed to move the vehicle to a safe storage facility and take the member and his wife to a place of safety where they could be collected by a third party, as there was no entitlement to a taxi or onward travel.
"We apologise for the initial confusion caused by our call agent but feel that our partner acted with compassion by providing service outside of entitlement to correct the earlier misunderstanding."
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