"The AA helped my husband – in Italy!"

My husband’s an Italian accountant and we have an office here in the UK and one in Livorno, Tuscany. We specialise in providing ex-pats with advice on buying property or running businesses in Italy. This involves my husband Antonio (or Ant as I call him) going back to his homeland a lot. And as he hates flying, he takes frequently drives there.

Anyway a few weeks ago, whilst he was there sorting out some red tape for one of our clients, he called me with the wonderful news that he had locked the car key in the car. Now Ant, like a lot of very intelligent men, can at times lack a bit of common sense. “Use the spare key”, I told him. “Ah”, he said, “that’s in the car too.” Well, after I’d unleashed a torrent of wifely sarcasm, I remembered that we had AA European Breakdown Cover. Whilst locking yourself out of your car isn’t exactly a breakdown, I thought if was at least worth a try.

To my delight, the polite young man who took my call didn’t bat an eyelid when I told what had happened. Not even a snigger. He simply took down the details and asked if I would like an English or Italian speaker to contact Ant (which I found amusing). Anyway, to cut a long story short, help arrived just over an hour later and with the aid of two inflatable cushions, a long piece of wire and considerable dexterity on part of the mechanics, my husband was able to get access to his Audi again. All this provided great entertainment to my Italian father-in-law who kept saying to the gathering neighbours “This is the AA. These guys have come from England. This is what I call service.” Naturally this amused the mechanics, who were from Provinciale Pisana.

Judith Ruddock, AA Member