on my way home 2AM Saturday Morning, heavy raining and poor visibility on the parkway in NY.

tried to dodge a crazy driver ahead and lost car control and got my Jag in a sort of ditch wet lawn with near a foot of water and 20 feet off the road.

front passenger door impacted at a small tree, dented and so did the front bumper. (later found the alignment is not straight)

called the dame AT&T roadside assistance and they could not send me a tow trunk because its dear vendor did not have permit on parkway.

firetruck came, as soon as they found me with no injure and life danger,they were just like hanging out there talking to each other not even talking to me. I asked them if their fire truck could just pull my car back to the road. They said they had no tool for that. come on, if you really wanted to , you got all the tools to chop my car in tiny pieces but you don't have a chain or even a rope to just give me a pull.

The rain kept pouring and the ambulance then came, they asked me the jump in to their trunk also to check out my body and I refused because I know they would not be "free" and they could have sent me a bill by sitting in their ambulance for 5 seconds.

at last, cop came and also nothing to help me but at least they stayed there until tow truck got me back to the road.I would not thank them either because they were just siting in the car and perhaps collecting overtime pay because of me.

not to mentioned the first tow truck came but the driver said my car was too far to reach and 2 hours later sent me a heavy-duty big tow truck. they ripped me off 360 bucks for pulling me back 20 feet to the road.

that is our NY finest and bravest do to the citizens sending their teams to "take a look" at my situation but not give a hand to try to rescue me"

every party was talking the advantage of the situation on me while I needed help the most.

 

That's disgraceful. On the other hand, I have a story completely the opposite.
(this happened in England near to where I work)

On my way to work one night I needed to turn back to pick something up I had forgotten. Stupidly, instead of continuing to a layby or junction, I decided to turn in the road. Visibility was clear even at night.
Unfortunately, as my rear wheels got to about as far as I wanted, I felt a worrying jolt and found myself looking up at the night sky. Yes, I had reversed over the edge into a ditch. Any further I would have been in a field.
Anyway, traction was not enough to get me moving as the chassis was pivoting on the kerb. The front wheels were in contact with the road but they were useless. The rear wheels just polished the muddy ditch as I tried to get out.
I called my boss, said I would be late. He decided to come and help. In the meantime, someone tried to pull me out but although it was a diesel car is was no match for my heavy lump and ended up snapping the tow rope I had. Luckily I had blocked only one side of the road (single carriageway) and at that time of night traffic was very light. More traffic came by, people asked if I was ok, which I was, then a 40ft lorry asked if they could help. I said by all means but I no longer had a tow rope. The driver went into his lorry and got a heavy duty tie down strap and used that to try to pull me out. Incredibly, it failed, probably because it snapped at a buckle.
By now traffic was tailing back about 20 cars and the lorry had to go, so I thanked the driver.
Soon after a police car turned up. Someone (not me) had called them. They asked me what happened, I told them, and they began to run through my options. We first tried a recovery company but they said because it was classified as a road traffic accident and I had come off the road they wouldn't get involved. During this, while I was in the police car, the officer was talking to base and after I had come off the phone he said his Sergeant had offered to come down in a Land Rover to try to help.
I of course agreed. When he got here, his offer came with conditions. One, that they would try once, and two, any damage to my car was my own concern. I agreed.
So they got the road blocked properly, hooked up a rope and proper couplings, and incredibly, it got me out and back on the road. Trouble was, I was pointing the wrong way to go to work. I thought they had done their job but they said they would help me turn at a nearby junction, and follow me to work (only 1 mile, and was on their way back to base anyway).
As I started to drive I noticed a rhythmic clunking that increased with speed. Although the road was a max 60mph I stayed at about 20. When I got to work the only damage was that one rear exhaust had been pulled off and was touching the diff shaft joint, which was the clunking I heard.

And that was it - no statement taken, no breath test, no talking down to me, just all friendly and very helpful. I didn't even ask them to help - they offered. Imagine where else this might happen. Imagine if I had called them myself and asked for them to get me out - they probably would have refused.
I don't know if it made a difference but these guys were motorway police (hence the Volvo car and Land Rover), not the usual town beat patrol.
When I got back home I checked the car over and all I had was a chunk of soil and grass wedged up somewhere.


So there you go - a similar situation but an opposite reaction.

 

my experience is the same as the first post. i got stuck in the mud at probably 30-40 feet from the road. police came and in short did nothing, then a tow truck came just to laugh and tell me they didnt have equipment to pull me out from that distance. luckly i was with a friend so we got our hands dirty and started digging into the mud and managed to get ourselves out of the situation.

 

See the difference? One country never tried to invoke prohibition, so they understand and are helpful . . . .

 

Join a Masonic Lodge, and if you are ever in need, help will simply drop from the sky or appear from behind a rock.....really...no kidding. 4 million brothers worldwide.

 

That's too funny, and probably true!You are dead on with this. On our Harley ride up through Canada with my two brothers, we stopped at an Elk's Lodge (My oldest brother is a member) one particularly crazy rainy night. They immediately took us in, offered us food and drinks, and allowed us to stay until we wanted to leave. Never once did they ask for anything in return. It was a nice change from the norm.

 

I know New Yorkers are not always the friendliest people but wow that's insane that no one did anything to help (not to knock on your city or anything). Good to hear that you didn't get hurt. Is the car totaled btw? Do you have AAA? I would recommend it with an old Jag. It is pretty cheap and has bailed me out on many occasions.