Mobile tyre fitting and recovery in PO20 (Selsey and the Witterings)
There is one road down to Selsey and one road out to the Witterings, and on a hot weekend in August neither of them moves. That matters more here than anywhere else we work: if a car breaks down on the B2145, it is not just that driver's afternoon that stops.
The peninsula is flat, low and salty. Sand blows across the coast roads, beach car parks are unmade, and valve corrosion is a genuinely common cause of slow punctures on cars that live down here.
The B2145 to Selsey and the A286 to the Witterings
The B2145 runs due south from Chichester to Selsey through Hunston, North Mundham and Sidlesham. It is single carriageway almost throughout with drainage ditches either side and very few places to pull clear, which is why we ask people to nurse a soft tyre to a field entrance or a bus stop rather than stop on the road.
The A286 takes the other branch out to Birdham, East Wittering and West Wittering, with the marina and Itchenor on lanes off it. The beach car parks at West Wittering are sand and hardcore, so a jack needs a board under it. Inland, the A27 corridor villages at Tangmere, Oving and Eastergate are easier ground entirely.
Where we work in PO20
This district covers a lot of ground. We attend Aldingbourne, Apuldram, Birdham, Bracklesham Bay, Chichester Marina, Dell Quay, Donnington, Earnley, East Wittering, Eastergate, Hunston, Merston, North Mundham, Oving, Runcton, Selsey, Sidlesham, South Mundham, Tangmere, Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, West Itchenor, West Wittering, Westergate and Woodgate.
Anywhere on the beach side, tell us whether you are on tarmac, hardcore or sand, and we will bring what that surface needs.
Questions we get asked about PO20
- I am blocking the road to Selsey with a flat tyre.
- Get the hazards on and, if the car will move at all, roll it into the nearest gateway or bus stop. Standing on the B2145 in summer traffic is dangerous for you and for us. Once you are clear, call and tell us exactly where you stopped.
- Why do cars near the coast get so many valve leaks?
- Salt air corrodes metal valve stems and perishes rubber ones faster than inland conditions do. A tyre that loses a few pounds a week with no visible damage is very often a valve rather than a puncture, and replacing it is a small job.
- Can you work in the beach car parks at West Wittering?
- Yes, with boards under the jack. The surface is a mix of hardcore and sand and it will not hold a jack foot on its own. Tell us where in the car park you are, because it is large and the rows all look identical.
Stopped on the peninsula?
Ring with the road and whether you are clear of it. On these two roads getting out of the traffic comes before everything else.