Richard Yarrow's opinion for startrescue.co.uk, providing low cost Van Breakdown Cover.

Sunday, and another fantastic example of the great service and dedication provided by the UK’s breakdown operators. Statistically speaking the hard shoulder is the most dangerous place on the motorway, but these selfless people put their lives on the line to help stranded motorists.

Over the weekend I did a fair amount of miles up and down the A14 dual carriageway in Suffolk, much of it because my wife was in hospital having her appendix out. I witnessed a breakdown operator just seconds after he had arrived where an elderly lady had presumably broken down. Her car was partially sticking out into the inside lane, and as I passed them he was hurriedly pushing it over the white line and on to the hard shoulder.

But that wasn’t all. About 30 minutes later I passed going the other way, so see him shepherding her along. He had obviously got the car going but only to the point where it could move slowly. Rather than head off and leave to the mercy of people doing 70+mph when she could do only a fraction of that, he crawled along behind her – amber lights flashing – at about 10mph to escort her to the nearest junction. That was probably 20 mins away for the two of them.

Every year in the media, when the Honours Lists are published, there is much debate about whether the recipients deserve whatever gongs they’re getting. To my mind, it’s breakdown operators like this who should be getting a medal.