Broken Down on the A71?
Broken down on the A71? We'll connect you with an available local recovery operator, wherever you are on it.
Conditions right now
That doesn't mean the roads are empty, and it doesn't mean your car won't break down. If it does, we're here.
Weather warnings: Met Office, © Crown copyright. Gritting: Ayrshire Roads Alliance.
If you've stopped on the A71
- Get off the carriageway if you possibly can. Take the first safe option, don't try to reach the next town.
- Hazard lights on, immediately.
- Get out on the left. Everyone leaves through the left-hand doors, away from the traffic. Leave animals in the car.
- Get behind a barrier and well back from the road. Not standing beside the vehicle.
- Then call. Once you're safe, and not before.
The A71 runs from Irvine on the coast, through Kilmarnock, up the Irvine Valley through Galston, Newmilns and Darvel, and then climbs over the moors towards Strathaven and Edinburgh. It is two very different roads joined together.
The A71, stretch by stretch
This road is not the same all the way along. Find where you are.
Irvine to Kilmarnock
Commuter traffic, busy
Busy, quick, and carrying commuter traffic between Irvine and Kilmarnock. The Bellfield interchange at the Kilmarnock end is where it meets the A77 and the M77.
If you stop here: Get onto the verge and out on the left before you call.
Through the Irvine Valley
Galston, Newmilns, Darvel
The road runs along the floor of the glen and straight through the three valley towns. It is tight in places, with parked cars, side roads and pedestrians.
This is the best-covered stretch of the whole road. If you stop here you are close to help.
If you stop here: Get off the carriageway if you can. In the towns there is usually somewhere to pull in.
East of Darvel: the moor road
Exposed, remote, and the one to respect
Past Darvel the road climbs onto open moorland, and it changes completely. It gets weather earlier and worse than anywhere else on the road: ice, drifting snow, standing water, fog that arrives in minutes.
Mobile signal is patchy. There are stretches with no houses, no lay-bys and nowhere to go. In winter this is the first road in the valley to become impassable.
If you get into trouble up here, this is not a road to be casual about.
If you stop here: Stay in the car if it is safe, hazards on, and keep warm. Do not set off walking. If your call will not connect, keep trying: the signal comes and goes.
Known hazards on the A71
- East of Darvel the road climbs onto exposed moorland. It gets weather earlier and harder than anywhere else nearby.
- Mobile signal on the moor section is patchy and unreliable.
- Long stretches with no houses, no lay-bys and nowhere to go.
- Through the valley towns the road is tight, with parked cars and side roads.
- The Bellfield interchange at the Kilmarnock end, where the A71 meets the A77 and M77.
How dangerous is the A71?
The A71 is a Priority 1 route for winter gritting, treated from the Galston bypass through Newmilns and Darvel to the boundary. Gritting runs between 10pm and 5am, ahead of forecast frost, ice or snow.
That is worth knowing, because it means the road is usually treated before the worst of it. It does not mean the moor section is safe in a blizzard. If the forecast is bad, the moor road is the first thing in the valley to become impassable.
The A71 in winter
Ice, drifting snow, standing water and fog, often when the valley floor a few miles away is merely wet. The moor road is the first to go and the last to come back.
Check before you travel
Need recovery?
Call us and we'll help arrange it, or send the vehicle details and we'll come back to you.