Roadside assist gets more than motors running

GHOSTS causing car batteries to run flat, saving tropical fish and helping build flat-pack furniture are some of the surprising tasks which face our roadside-assist patrollers.

NRMA service

GHOSTS causing car batteries to run flat, saving tropical fish and helping build flat-pack furniture are some of the surprising tasks which face our roadside-assist patrollers.

The job of these everyday heroes is about much more than mechanics and patrollers from across the country have shared their most memorable moments with news.com.au.

NRMA veteran patroller Charlie Varvaressos said he had been called to enough unusual jobs in his 19-year career to "fill a telephone book". 

"You go to work for the adventure; you don't know what you're going to come across," the 46-year-old said.

"Being hit on is common. I've been (propositioned) so many times I've lost count by (women aged) between 30 and 87.

"I've even had blokes proposition me."

NRMA's Mark Stares said he'd been called out in the middle of the night to disconnect a member's house alarm.

"Because that's what we do - we help people," he said.

"People call us out when their garage doors won't go up or if they've lost their dog. Sometimes they ring because their pet's gone somewhere and they can't find it.

"A couple of weeks ago I had an elderly gentleman who had been shopping at Westfield at Miranda and couldn't find his vehicle ... so I picked him up and drove him around about 7000 car spaces. I reckon we were driving around for nearly an hour before he turned to me and said 'stop the car, I didn't drive the car today, I walked'."

Colleague Emmanuel Mann said they had even been called out to save tropical fish. 

"Two patrols had to go to a member's house because the member had rung up for road service," he said.

"It involved some tropical fish and a power outage.

"They basically joined up their air line and put the hose into the fish tank to give the fish oxygen so the fish didn't die."

And the tales are just as weird and wonderful up north. 

Trevor Whatley, from the Automobile Association of the Northern Territory, said members were known to tell fibs to the operators. 

"People would say anything to get someone out there," he said.

"We've got one member who calls us out regularly. It's always the same thing … she's got a ghost who lives there and the ghost is always causing problems to her car, leaving the doors open ... we can't convince her any other way.

"We get her about twice a month."

The 52-year-old said other call-outs were as cringe-worthy as laughable. 

"I've actually been to a job where the lady had no pants on," he said.

"We've had a customer who, before she books the call-out, always asks the girls in the call centre if Wayne is on.

"There was one job where we were informed the spare key was in the briefcase in the boot ... but when we opened the briefcase it was full of sex toys so that was pretty embarrassing."

NRMA patroller Tony Tamine, 45, said he "prized" his job because there was never a dull moment. 

"I think I've done about 25,000 jobs and there have been piles of them that have been very funny," he said.

"I had an elderly lady who called us out and (when I arrived) said 'darling, it's not a problem with the car, but I bought this TV cabinet and I'm having trouble putting it together'."

NRMA patroller Nick Kostakis, 44, said his job was more about helping people than fixing cars.

"We just love what we do which is why a lot of us have been with NRMA for a long time," he said.

"At the end of the day if the car is immobilised and not going, then the car is out of the picture. 

"The next thing is the member - where do they need to go to and who do they need to call?"

NRMA Motoring Assistance general manager Gary Campbell said that while his patrollers always aimed to please members, they should not be used as handymen.

"Our roadside patrols are on call 24 hours a day, every day of the year, to keep motorists on the move so it's important that their time is focussed on assisting motorists with their vehicles," he said