A West Swindon family feel lucky to be alive after a brand new tyre punctured on a motorway journey to the airport.
Joe and Camilla Golding and their two children looked forward to setting off on their first holiday in seven years.
Before heading to Gatwick, they had three of their car's tyres replaced with run-flats, but while on the motorway, their car began veering to the left and became more difficult to drive.
The Goldings wondered whether the Swindon Halfords staff had mistakenly fitted standard tyres instead of the ones they paid for.
Halfords later confirmed that the newly-fitted tyres were run-flats.
Camilla Golding told the Adver: “The car started going weird and making noises. I thought ‘surely, a tyre can’t be flat’ because we’d just bought new ones that can apparently run for 80 miles after a puncture.
“I was scared and praying. I don’t know how we are alive, it could have been tragic.
“We got to the airport and that’s when we realised that the tyre was fully flat. We were shocked, we couldn’t believe it.
“We’ve not been enjoying our holiday because we’ve spent so much of it trying to sort this out with Halfords.
“I want to prevent anything like this from happening to someone else.”
Though these types of tyres are often described as 'puncture-proof', most manufacturers recommend not exceeding speeds of 50mph over distances of more than 50 miles if a puncture is sustained.
The round pieces of rubber are designed to help drivers reach the nearest garage instead of having to change over to a spare tyre on a potentially busy and dangerous roadside.
Joe added: “The store manager told me to send the receipt as proof of purchase, then told me to drive the car to Swindon.
"The locking wheel nut was left at the garage by mistake and I didn't have time to collect it afterward, so there was no way to change the tyre at the airport.
“Our warranty doesn’t seem to have mattered either.
“I realised something was not right but thought 'it's a run-flat' and kept going so we would catch our flight.
“It got worse and worse as we got nearer the airport, thank God we arrived safely.
“It’s been very stressful."
After the family flew home from Ibiza on Friday, Halfords covered the costs of their travel to Swindon, took the vehicle to a garage, and posted the locking wheel nut to their home address.
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