Breaking down on a smart motorway: the M25 near the M11
Updated
Quick answer
On the M25 between junctions 23 and 27 the hard shoulder is used as a running lane. If your vehicle has a problem, leave at the next junction or stop in an emergency area. If you're stuck in a live lane, keep your seatbelt on, put your hazard lights on and call 999 straight away.
What's different about a smart motorway
On this stretch, past Waltham Cross, Waltham Abbey and the M11 interchange, every lane is a running lane, including what used to be the hard shoulder. Instead, there are emergency areas: lay-bys marked with an orange road surface and blue signs with an orange SOS symbol. Signs tell you how far it is to the next one.
If you can reach an emergency area
- Indicate left and pull into the emergency area, as far left as you can.
- Put your hazard lights on.
- If it's safe, get out through the left-hand doors and wait behind the barrier.
- Use the SOS phone in the emergency area to tell National Highways you're there. They can close a lane to help you rejoin safely.
- Then call us for recovery, a tyre change or a jump start.
If you're stuck in a live lane
This is the most dangerous place to be. If you can't get out safely, stay in the vehicle with your seatbelt on and hazard lights on, and call 999 straight away. If you can get out and reach the verge behind the barrier safely, do. Don't try to put out a warning triangle.
Most smart motorways now have radar that detects stopped vehicles, and the overhead signs can close your lane to protect you.
What a red X means
A red X above a lane means it's closed, often because there's a stopped vehicle or people ahead. Move out of that lane and never drive in it. It's there to protect people like you.
If National Highways moves your vehicle
If your vehicle is blocking a lane, traffic officers or the police may arrange for it to be moved somewhere safe first. Once you're safe, call us and we'll take it from there: home, to a garage of your choice, or a tyre change so you can get going. See our M25 breakdown recovery page.
Telling us where you are
Tell us whether you're on the clockwise or anticlockwise carriageway, the last junction you passed, and the number on the nearest blue driver location sign or emergency area sign. Sharing your location on WhatsApp is the quickest way of all.