Freer’s Panel Works and 24 Hour Towing was called to 73 jobs on the Goulburn Valley Fwy between Shepparton and Seymour, and the Hume Fwy between Seymour and Avenel, in the seven days from Monday, June 29 to midnight on Sunday, July 5.
Normally, that number would be less than 10 for a week in the same area, according to Freer’s towing and breakdown manager Chris Walker-Bartlett.
Mr Walker-Bartlett said the company responded to roadside assistance calls that were basically “anything that is not for the RACV”, as well as general towing jobs.
Meanwhile, RACV automotive services general manager Makarla Cole said RACV patrols attended 49 flat tyre and wheel-related breakdowns along the Goulburn Valley Fwy between Shepparton and the Hume Fwy, and the Hume Fwy between Seymour and Euroa, between June 25 and July 5.
This included 21 callouts to the Hume Fwy and 28 to the Goulburn Valley Fwy.
There was no indication from the RACV as to how many of these flat tyres resulted from hitting potholes, but there is usually about five to seven callouts a week across these road sections.
Mr Walker-Bartlett labelled the number of call-outs recently as “massive”, with the vast majority coming from vehicles hitting potholes and damaging tyres.
He said it had been so bad in that one week, that the company had to roster two extra tow truck drivers every night to cope with the demand.
Wednesday, July 1 was the busiest for Freer’s as far as callouts went, with calls to 20 jobs that night alone, according to Mr Walker-Bartlett.
Friday and Saturday nights also saw 23 cars that needed help over the two nights.
Mr Walker-Bartlett said half of the callouts were from people needing a tyre changed, while the other half needed to be towed.
He said there were some main spots where drivers were coming into trouble, blowing tyres or damaging the rims of their cars.
They included on the Hume Fwy from Longwood to just north of Tallarook.
On the Goulburn Valley Fwy, Mr Walker-Bartlett said the worst areas were on the northbound side near the service station at Wahring and around the Violet Town and Murchison exit.
The southbound lane near Moorilim — where the overhead road safety cameras are — was also a particularly bad spot.
There were also potholes on either side of the freeway south of Nagambie that were also causing lots of issues, he said.
And Freer’s was called to about 15 drivers in that week who had blown two different tyres in two different spots on the one night.
He said the company had also been to two callouts where there had been crashes in the week that had occurred after vehicles had slowed down after blowing a tyre on a pothole, and then their vehicles had been clipped by other vehicles coming behind them.
One of those on the Hume Fwy just south of Avenel resulted in a person needing to be flown to a Melbourne hospital, while the other on the Goulburn Valley Fwy at Wahring required both vehicles to be towed.
While the figures Mr Walker-Bartlett gave were for callouts to Freer’s, he also said staff had come across other drivers with blown tyres that they had helped at no charge, that were near ones they had been called to.
“We’ve changed a few tyres, probably for five or six elderly people,” he said.
With so many people pulled over on the region’s roads needing help from tow truck drivers, Mr Walker-Bartlett put out a plea to other motorists to follow the road laws and slow to 40km/h when going past tow trucks when they had their flashing yellow lights on.
“We’re still finding they’re flying past at 100 or 110km/h,” he said.
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