Legal
Customer Terms of Service
The agreement between you and In a Pickle Breakdown when you request help.
Version 2026-09-17 · In effect from 17 September 2026
1. About these Terms and the marketplace
These Terms are between you and IN A PICKLE BREAKDOWN LTD (company number 17456795), registered office 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, United Kingdom, IP28 7DE, trading as In a Pickle Breakdown (“IAP”, “we”, “us” or “our”).
1.1 IAP operates an online marketplace that helps customers request roadside assistance and vehicle recovery from participating independent Supplier businesses.
1.2 IAP provides the website/platform, booking, matching, communication and payment-administration functionality. IAP does not itself provide the roadside assistance, repair or recovery service.
1.3 A separate roadside/recovery service contract is formed directly between you and the Supplier only once the Supplier has accepted and been assigned and the platform has made available the Supplier’s business/trading identity and any other pre-contract trader information required by applicable law. The Supplier is responsible for performing the roadside/recovery service, including its personnel, vehicles, equipment, workmanship and loss or damage caused by its acts or omissions, subject to applicable law.
1.4 IAP remains responsible for its own platform services, payment administration, data handling and other obligations that properly belong to IAP. Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits any liability or consumer right that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
2. Service tiers and prices
The total price shown before you request assistance includes IAP’s platform allocation. No additional IAP booking/platform fee is added on top of the displayed total.
| Service | Customer total | Supplier allocation | IAP platform allocation | Included core scope |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roadside Assistance | £55 | £50 | £5 | Attendance and up to the first 30 minutes of included roadside labour/diagnostic assistance. It is not a guarantee that every vehicle can be repaired at the roadside. |
| Vehicle Recovery | £89 | £80 | £9 | Recovery from the breakdown location to one destination within 10 miles, subject to safety, vehicle suitability and the booking information shown. |
| Unsure / Assistance with Possible Recovery | £115 authorised | £100 if recovery / £50 if roadside-only | £15 if recovery / £5 if roadside-only | The Supplier assesses the situation. If roadside assistance only is required, the final customer amount is £55. If recovery is required, the final customer amount is £115. |
2.1 Additional parts, additional labour, specialist work and recovery mileage beyond any included allowance are not included in the tier price. The Supplier must explain the additional charge and obtain your agreement before chargeable additional work or mileage is incurred wherever reasonably practicable. Those extras are a direct arrangement between you and the Supplier.
3. Making a request and forming the Supplier contract
3.1 You must provide information that is accurate to the best of your knowledge, including the vehicle, location, fault/symptoms and relevant safety circumstances.
3.2 The platform sends the opportunity to eligible Suppliers using operational criteria including availability, proximity and approved capability. No particular Supplier or response time is guaranteed.
3.3 The direct roadside/recovery service contract is formed only when (a) an eligible Supplier accepts your request and is assigned and (b) the platform has made available the Supplier’s business/trading identity and any other pre-contract trader information required by applicable law. The interface must not bind you to that Supplier before this information has been made available.
4. Payment authorisation, capture and Supplier payment
4.1 When you request assistance, the applicable tier amount is authorised on your card through Stripe. An authorisation reserves/ring-fences the amount; it is not the final completed charge.
4.2 If no Supplier accepts within the platform availability window, the authorisation is cancelled/released. Your card provider may take time to remove a pending authorisation.
4.3 The customer card transaction is processed through IAP’s Stripe platform account. IAP is the merchant of record for the Stripe card transaction, while the independent Supplier remains the provider of the roadside/recovery service.
4.4 After the applicable booking outcome is established, only the amount properly due is captured. IAP then administers the Supplier transfer through Stripe Connect Express and retains the fixed IAP platform allocation stated above.
4.5 For the Unsure / Possible Recovery tier, £115 is initially authorised. If the outcome is roadside assistance only, £55 is captured and the remaining £60 authorisation is released; the £60 is not ordinarily taken and refunded. If recovery is required, £115 is captured.
5. Completion and non-response fallback
5.1 After providing the service, the Supplier records the outcome and requests payment. You can confirm completion or use the open-booking “Report a problem” route.
5.2 If you do not respond within the platform’s stated fallback period after verified attendance and the Supplier’s completion/payment request, the platform may process the authorised amount administratively. This fallback does not mean you accept the quality of the work, waive a complaint or lose statutory rights.
5.3 GPS, arrival records and system evidence may support attendance/payment administration. They are not conclusive proof that the Supplier’s workmanship was satisfactory.
6. Cancellation and exceptional booking outcomes
6.1 You can request cancellation at any point while the booking remains open.
6.2 Before a Supplier accepts and is assigned: no cancellation fee applies and the authorisation is released.
6.3 Subject to your statutory cancellation rights and applicable law, where you cancel after a Supplier has accepted and been assigned, a £25 cancellation charge may apply, comprising £20 allocated to the Supplier and £5 retained by IAP.
6.4 Genuine safety cancellation. If you cancel because you genuinely feel unsafe, the £25 charge may be waived. A comment explaining the concern is required in the platform safety route; a photograph is optional and must never be required as a condition of raising a safety concern. Call 999 in an emergency.
6.5 Supplier cancellation/no-show. No customer cancellation fee applies where the Supplier cancels, does not attend, or cannot proceed for a reason attributable to the Supplier.
6.6 Wasted callout. If the Supplier arrives, makes reasonable contact attempts and you/your vehicle remain unavailable after the stated 10-minute wait, a £25 charge (£20 Supplier / £5 IAP) may apply.
6.7 Materially inaccurate booking information. Where materially inaccurate information prevents safe or proper performance of the booked service, a £25 charge (£20 Supplier / £5 IAP) may apply. If an alternative/additional service can be offered, its charge must be explained and agreed before chargeable work is undertaken.
6.8 The wasted-callout and materially-inaccurate-information outcomes are reviewable. The platform currently provides a 24-hour review link for those outcomes. That operational window does not remove any legal right that exists beyond it.
6.9 Supplier unable to carry out the accepted service. There is no automatic full-service charge. The matter is referred for administrator review. The amount may be £0 or another amount justified by the evidence and applicable rights; a full service amount should only be charged where the evidence establishes that the relevant chargeable service was in fact supplied.
6.10 Roadside attended but vehicle not repairable. Where the Supplier genuinely attends and provides the included roadside attendance/diagnostic assistance but the vehicle cannot be repaired roadside, the £55 Roadside Assistance charge remains payable. Roadside assistance is not a repair guarantee.
7. Immediate performance and cancellation rights
7.1 Roadside/recovery requests are ordinarily urgent. At checkout, you will be asked to make an express request for the Supplier service to be capable of beginning during any applicable statutory cancellation period as soon as the direct Supplier contract forms. IAP will retain a record of that request.
7.2 An express request for urgent performance is not, by itself, a blanket waiver of statutory cancellation rights. Where the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 apply, the statutory rules for services started during the cancellation period continue to apply. Supplier acceptance, GPS proximity or arrival does not automatically remove statutory rights. Where the legal conditions are met, cancellation rights may be affected once the service has been fully performed.
8. Problems, refunds, chargebacks and remedies
8.1 Service-related problems — including defective or incomplete workmanship, diagnosis, parts, Supplier-caused damage, injury, disputed extras or Supplier conduct — are primarily matters under your direct service contract with the Supplier.
8.2 The Supplier is responsible for any refund, price reduction, remedial work, re-performance or other remedy legally or contractually due because of the Supplier service.
8.3 Because the customer card charge sits on IAP’s Stripe platform account, IAP technically administers card refunds and chargebacks through Stripe. Where a refund/chargeback properly arises from the Supplier service, IAP may recover or reverse the Supplier amount under the Supplier Terms. IAP remains responsible for refunds/corrections arising from IAP’s own platform or payment-administration error.
8.4 You can use “Report a problem” throughout an open booking for non-arrival, incorrect arrival/location, unsafe conduct, wrong service, incomplete service, damage, disputed extras or another issue. A comment is required; a photograph is optional.
8.5 Where technically possible, a problem reported before the Supplier transfer is released will pause that transfer while the relevant platform/payment issue is reviewed.
8.6 IAP may help obtain evidence and facilitate communication, but IAP does not act as the final legal adjudicator of negligence, workmanship or other underlying Supplier-service disputes.
8.7 Customers remain entitled to use legitimate card-provider dispute/chargeback mechanisms. IAP may act where there is evidence of fraud, dishonesty or abusive payment activity, but a legitimate card dispute is not a breach merely because it was made.
9. Safety
If you are in a live traffic lane, cannot reach relative safety, there is an accident, fire, smoke, injury or other immediate danger, call 999 where appropriate and follow emergency/road-authority instructions. IAP is not an emergency service. See the Customer Roadside Safety Guidance.
10. Privacy and location information
The Privacy Policy explains how IAP uses account, booking, payment, vehicle, communications and location information. Customer precise location is requested only when you choose to provide it. Supplier live location is used during active jobs. See the Privacy Policy and Cookie & Browser Storage Policy for details.
11. Liability
11.1 The Supplier is responsible for the roadside/recovery service it performs, including its personnel, equipment, vehicles, workmanship and loss caused by its acts or omissions, subject to applicable law.
11.2 IAP is responsible for its own platform services and its own acts/omissions. Nothing excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud/fraudulent misrepresentation, or any liability or consumer right that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
12. General and contact
12.1 These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, subject to mandatory consumer protections that apply to you.
12.2 Platform and privacy contact: admin@picklebreakdown.co.uk. Operator: IN A PICKLE BREAKDOWN LTD (company number 17456795), registered office 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, United Kingdom, IP28 7DE, trading as In a Pickle Breakdown.