A BOURNEMOUTH woman was left fuming after the RAC would not come out to repair her car when she broke down on a quiet country road.

Auxiliary nurse Anne Sadler, 21, was driving home from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire when her Nissan Micra broke down on Sunday afternoon.

She used her mobile phone to ring the RAC but said the breakdown service would not send a mechanic.

"When I told them it was an automatic and I thought it was a gearbox problem they said they couldn't help me.

"All they did was offer to tow me 10 miles free of charge - then I would have to pay £2 for every extra mile. There was no way I could afford the bill to be towed hundreds of miles back home.

"I pay £100 a year for roadside cover but what's the point when they won't even send a mechanic?"

As a last resort Anne, who was travelling with her mother Enines after spending the weekend with relatives, rang her flatmate Tony Hughes.

Tony set off on a 500-mile round trip to collect the two women, leaving Bournemouth at 11.15pm and arriving back home in Southbourne at 3.45am.

Anne's relatives managed to drive her car back to Wisbech. She said: "The car is going to have to be scrapped - there is no way I can afford to pay for it to be towed back to Bourne-mouth. I'm furious at the RAC for leaving us to fend for ourselves. They are supposed to be there when you need help in an emergency."

RAC spokeswoman Charlotte Latham said: "When Miss Sadler said she thought the problem was her automatic gearbox we consulted two technical engineers who said it was not possible to fix the car at the roadside.

"The best option was recovery and we offered to take Miss Sadler to a garage or place of safety but she refused. Her membership entitlement only covers a 10-mile radius. Eighty per cent of problems can be rectified at the roadside but this was considered too complex."