Mobile tyres and recovery in PO18 (Goodwood and Bosham)
Bosham's quay floods on a spring tide, and every year cars are left on it a few minutes too long. Salt water in a wheel is worse than most drivers realise — it gets into the bead seat, corrodes the rim from the inside, and a tyre that seemed fine will be losing air a fortnight later.
North of the harbour the district climbs to Goodwood, where the racecourse, the motor circuit and the aerodrome sit on the same piece of downland and generate more traffic on an event day than the lanes were ever meant to carry.
The A27, the A286 to Singleton and the A285
The A27 runs along the bottom of the district as fast dual carriageway. It is the road most people arrive on and the worst one to stop on, and the roundabouts along it back up badly whenever anything is happening at Goodwood.
From Chichester the A286 climbs north through Lavant to Singleton and the A285 heads up past Halnaker. Both are steady climbs onto the downs with narrow verges. On the harbour side, the lanes to Bosham, Chidham and West Ashling are low, flat and edged with ditches, and several of them have tidal sections marked for good reason.
Where we work in PO18
This is the largest district on our list by place count. We attend Bosham, Boxgrove, Charlton, Chidham, Chilgrove, Eartham, Fishbourne, Funtington, Goodwood Aerodrome, Goodwood Motor Circuit, Goodwood Racecourse, Halnaker, Hambrook, Lavant, Nutbourne (Chichester), Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (Goodwood), Singleton, Walderton, Weald & Downland Living Museum, West Ashling, West Dean and Westhampnett.
On a Goodwood event day, tell us which gate or car park you are at rather than the road — the internal layout changes with the event.
Questions we get asked about PO18
- My car has been in salt water at Bosham. What should I check?
- The wheel as much as the tyre. Salt water gets between the rim and the bead and corrodes the seal, which is why cars flooded on the quay often develop slow leaks weeks later. We can break the bead, clean the seat properly and reseal it.
- Can you attend Goodwood on an event day?
- We can attend the public car parks where a steward will let a van through, but access is controlled and slow on a big day. Give us the gate name and the car park, and be ready to walk out and meet our driver.
- How far is this from your base?
- A long way. We are based in Cobham and PO18 is the far end of our working ground, down the A3 and across. We cover it properly, but you should expect a wait that reflects the distance and we will say so on the phone.
Tyre help around Goodwood and the harbour
Call with the gate, the car park or a pin. On the harbour lanes, tell us if the road is tidal — we will plan the approach around it.