AA refuse to help mum who locked toddler and purse in car and couldn’t pay £150 membership fee

Unable to gain access to her car, Nicola Millar from Chingford flagged down a nearby van driver who had a membership with the AA.

However the AA refused to help them, demanding that Nicola sign up herself.

Despite the 36-year-old, whose 17-month-old toddler daughter Violet was crying in the car, explaining that she did not have access to her purse to pay the £150 membership fee, they refused to help.

Speaking about the incident, which happened in a shopping car park, Nicola describes being ‘in tears’ on the phone to them.

'The AA asked me to ring someone I knew to make the payment, again I told them I couldn’t because I didn’t know any numbers off by heart and my phone was locked in the car,’ she said.

'At this point, they said they couldn’t help me. I was disgusted by their response, it’s not as if I was going to knock them, I was desperate.'

After 45 minutes, van driver James King decided to smash the back passenger seat window to retrieve the keys.

'It is absolutely disgusting,' the 57-year-old said.

'If anything, they should have come out and done something using my membership but they totally refused.

'This poor woman was really upset and it was out-of-order for them to leave her in tears whilst her 17-month-old girl is crying in the back seat.'

A spokesman for the AA, who call themselves the ‘fourth emergency service’ apologised for the ‘unfortunate’ incident.

'In these circumstances we would normally send out a patrol car and if a driver is not a member of the AA, we can sort out the administration afterwards,' he said.

'We do have procedures in place to offer a service to a non-AA member and it is unfortunate what has happened.

'We are sorry for any distress this may have caused to the mother and the child and I don’t know why someone did not attend in the first place.

'We receive thousands of calls regarding people or animals being trapped and I would urge that if it is an emergency to contact the police of fire brigade.'