24/7 Jump Start and Flat Battery Call-Out in Collier Row, RM5
Car won't start on the Collier Row Roundabout, Chase Cross Road or anywhere else in RM5? We send a technician out from Leyton with a jump pack, day or night. Jump starts start from £60, agreed on the phone before we set off, with no call-out fee on top.
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CityGrip Recovery provides 24/7 jump start and flat battery call-outs across Collier Row, RM5, covering the Collier Row Roundabout, Chase Cross Road, Collier Row Lane and the residential streets off Clockhouse Lane. Jump starts and flat battery call-outs start from £60, with the exact price agreed on the phone before we set off and no separate call-out fee. We're based at 68 Ruckholt Road in Leyton, E10 5NP, and travel out to Collier Row for breakdowns at any time, day or night.
Jump start and flat battery call-outs across Collier Row
If your car won't start in Collier Row, whether that's on the roundabout, on a side street off Clockhouse Lane, or outside the shops on Collier Row Road, CityGrip Recovery sends a technician out to jump start it. The price starts from £60. We agree the exact figure with you on the phone before anyone is dispatched, based on what you tell us about the car, the likely cause, and where it's parked, and there is no separate call-out fee added once the technician arrives on site.
The call itself is straightforward. You tell us the make and model, roughly how old the battery is if you know it, and a clear description of where the vehicle is standing, whether that's a residential bay near Lynwood Drive, the Rex Close Car Park, or a stretch of Collier Row Road near the roundabout. We agree a price and a rough arrival window there and then, based on that description. We don't run a live GPS tracker or promise a countdown timer; instead we give you a realistic window based on where our nearest technician is and the state of the roads that day, and we call again if anything changes before we arrive.
Once on site, the technician tests the battery with a meter rather than just connecting jump leads and hoping for the best. That matters on a busy road like Collier Row Road, where a wrong diagnosis means a second call-out and a second wait. If the battery holds charge once the engine is running, you're on your way. If it doesn't, or if the alternator turns out to be the real problem, we'll tell you plainly rather than send you off in a car that will strand you again before you reach the A12.
While you wait for us, if it's safe to stay with the car, switching off anything still drawing power, the radio, interior lights, a phone charger, means the technician isn't fighting a bigger drain than the flat battery itself once they connect the jump pack. If your car is sitting in a permit bay, on a restricted stretch of Collier Row Road, or close to the roundabout, mentioning that when you call means the technician can plan where to stop safely rather than adding to traffic at a junction that's already busy for much of the day.
Had a non-fault accident? Your recovery is free.
If another driver was at fault, CityGrip arranges free recovery, secure storage, a like-for-like courtesy car and full claims management, with every cost recovered from the at-fault driver’s insurer. You pay nothing, and your no-claims bonus stays intact.
The Collier Row Roundabout: a difficult spot to break down
The junction locally known as the Collier Row Roundabout, where Collier Row Road, Clockhouse Lane, Chase Cross Road and Collier Row Lane all meet, carries up to 1,400 vehicles an hour at busy times, with speeds of up to 35mph regularly recorded on the approach roads. Havering Council's own study logged seven personal-injury collisions there, two of them involving pedestrians, which is why Transport for London funded a Collisions Reduction Scheme, consulted between October and November 2024, that added lowered centre-island crossings, upgraded illuminated belisha beacons and new approach road markings.
A flat battery on or near this roundabout is not a place to sit and wait. If your car has died on one of the four approaches, put your hazard lights on, and if it's safe to do so on foot, move away from the traffic rather than stand next to the vehicle. When you call us, tell us exactly which arm of the roundabout you're on, Collier Row Road, Clockhouse Lane, Chase Cross Road or Collier Row Lane, so the technician can plan a safe place to pull in rather than stopping in a live traffic lane.
Further out, on Collier Row Road toward Hog Hill Road and the boundary with Epping Forest, the picture is worse: up to 1,900 vehicles an hour, speeds up to 45mph, and 28 recorded personal-injury accidents, five of them serious, eight involving pedestrians, seven in wet conditions and ten in darkness. The council has since added regularly spaced speed cushions along this stretch and a new zebra crossing near Lodge Lane. If your battery gives out here, especially after dark or in rain, the uneven surface from the speed cushions and the pedestrian crossing nearby both affect where a recovery vehicle can stop safely, which is another reason to describe your exact position clearly when you call.
None of this means you should avoid calling us if you've broken down near the roundabout or further out on Collier Row Road. It means we ask a few more questions than usual about exactly where you are, which arm of the junction, which direction you were heading, whether you're on the newly added speed cushions or near the zebra crossing by Lodge Lane, so the technician arrives already knowing how to stop safely rather than working that out on arrival.
Roads in and around Collier Row
Collier Row sits in the London Borough of Havering, postcode district RM5, about 14 miles (23km) north-east of Charing Cross and north of Romford town centre. The A12 (Eastern Avenue), the main road toward central London, the Essex coast and the M25, runs through the southern part of the wider Collier Row area rather than through the residential core, so most journeys in and out of the district itself use the roundabout and the four roads that meet there.
East of the roundabout, Chase Cross Road (the B175) runs through the Chase Cross area, roughly 0.8 miles out, toward Havering-atte-Bower and Passingford Bridge, and links back to the A12 in Romford. Collier Row Lane runs south from the roundabout back toward Romford town centre. There's no gyratory system in Collier Row, no TfL red route and no area-wide Low Traffic Neighbourhood, so a recovery vehicle can generally follow the same route a normal car would.
There's no Underground or National Rail station in Collier Row itself; the nearest are Hainault, Newbury Park and Romford. TfL bus routes 103, 175, 247, 252, 294, 365 (which runs 24 hours) and 375 serve the area. If your car has to be left and you need to get home or to work while it's dealt with, factor that lack of a local station into your plans, since a bus or a taxi to one of those stations will usually be quicker than waiting for a train that doesn't run from here.
None of this makes Collier Row hard to reach; it just means the roundabout is the natural hub for almost every route in, so most call-outs pass through or near it regardless of which of the four roads you're actually on. Knowing that in advance is part of why we ask for your road name and the nearest landmark rather than just a postcode, since RM5 covers a wider area than the roundabout junction alone.
The Clockhouse Primary School Street: timing matters
Around Clockhouse Primary School, on Lynwood Drive, a trial School Street closes Lynwood Drive itself along with Lynwood Close and Judith Avenue to non-essential motor vehicles from 8:00 to 9:30am and again from 2:30 to 4:00pm, Monday to Friday, during term time. Residents can register for an exemption, but a recovery vehicle without one that turns up in those windows may not be able to drive straight to the car.
If your flat battery is on or near one of those three streets, mention it when you call. We'll either time the visit for outside the restricted windows, or, where the school day timing genuinely can't wait, we'll talk you through what's needed to get an exemption sorted so the technician isn't stuck at the edge of a closed road while your car sits fifty yards away.
The same applies in reverse: if you break down just before 8am on a school day near Clockhouse Primary, it may be simpler, and quicker, to wait until just after 9:30am for us to reach you directly, rather than have a technician try to work around a closure on foot. We'll talk through the options with you on the phone rather than just quoting a generic arrival time that ignores the restriction.
This isn't a large restriction in area, three residential streets for ninety minutes twice a day during term time, but it's exactly the kind of local detail that a generic breakdown service without local knowledge would miss entirely, and it's the difference between a technician reaching your car in good time and one stuck at a barrier while the clock runs on. Tell us the time of day as well as the street name when you call, and we'll route around it properly.
ULEZ, parking bays and permits in Collier Row
The whole of Collier Row falls inside the Ultra Low Emission Zone, which Transport for London expanded to cover all 32 London boroughs, Havering included, from 29 August 2023. Older, non-compliant diesel and petrol vehicles are liable for the daily charge unless exempt, though the M25 itself is excluded even where it crosses the borough. Collier Row is well outside the separate Central London Congestion Charge zone, so that charge simply doesn't apply here.
There's no single borough-wide Controlled Parking Zone covering Collier Row. Instead, Havering Council operates permit-only bays and waiting or loading restrictions on specific signed streets, which residents check using the council's Traffweb tool and manage through the mipermit digital permit system. If your car has broken down in a residential bay, it's worth checking the signage for the hours that bay actually applies, since restrictions vary street by street rather than following one blanket rule.
On Collier Row Lane specifically, the council has consulted on converting existing on-street bays to round-the-clock electric vehicle charging bays with a six-hour maximum stay, so parking there is changing. If you'd rather wait somewhere with clearer rules while your car is dealt with, Rex Close Car Park (RM5 3JS), which Havering Council operates directly, is a straightforward public option nearby.
None of these restrictions change the price we agree with you for the jump start itself. They affect where the technician can stop the recovery vehicle and for how long, not what you're charged for the call-out. If in doubt about a specific bay or stretch of road, the council's Traffweb tool is the definitive source, but for the purposes of getting your car started again, the main thing is telling us where you are as precisely as you can.
What actually causes a flat battery, and what a jump start does
Most flat batteries in a car this age of use come down to one of a few causes: the battery itself has simply reached the end of its life, usually somewhere between three and five years depending on how the car is used; cold weather has increased the internal resistance of an already-weak battery to the point it can't turn the engine over; a run of short journeys hasn't given the alternator enough time to fully recharge it after each start; or something has been left on, an interior light, a phone charger, a dash cam, drawing current while the car sat unused.
A jump start works by using another power source, in our case a portable jump pack rather than another car, to supply enough current to turn the engine over and get it running. Once it's running, the alternator takes over and should keep the battery topped up for the rest of your journey. That's why our technician tests the battery with a meter before and after connecting anything: a battery that's simply flat from cold weather or a short-journey pattern will usually take and hold a charge, while one that's genuinely failed will drop again within minutes.
If the same car needs jump starting more than once in a short space of time, that's usually a sign the battery needs replacing rather than jump starting again, or that the alternator itself isn't charging properly. We'll say so plainly rather than jump start a car we know won't get you much further, because a second breakdown on the Collier Row Roundabout or out on the Hog Hill Road stretch is worse for you than an honest answer on the first visit.
We carry jump packs rather than relying on another vehicle's battery, partly because it's faster to set up in a tight spot like the roundabout or a narrow residential bay, and partly because it avoids the risk of draining a second car's battery in the process. It's a straightforward piece of kit doing a straightforward job: enough current to turn the engine over, nothing more mysterious than that, which is also why we're honest when a jump start clearly isn't going to be a lasting fix.
Modern cars complicate this slightly. Many newer vehicles run several onboard computers that stay partly awake even with the engine off, and some have specific jump-starting points under the bonnet rather than a straightforward connection to the battery terminals, to protect that electronics. Our technician knows to check the handbook point rather than just clamping onto whatever's nearest, particularly on the sort of family cars and vans that are common on the residential streets around Clockhouse Lane and Collier Row Lane.
Landmarks and getting your bearings in Collier Row
Collier Row's town centre sits at the crossroads of Clockhouse Lane and Collier Row Road, about 1.5 miles from Romford, with a shopping parade that includes Savers, Costa Coffee, KFC, Greggs, Domino's and a number of independent traders. The Colley Rowe Inn, a JD Wetherspoon pub at 54-56 Collier Row Road (RM5 3PA), converted from two former shop units, is a useful landmark if you're trying to describe your location to us over the phone, particularly if you've broken down near the parade rather than out on the open road.
Further along Chase Cross Road sits St James's Church, a hall and church built between 1954 and 1956 when the parish was carved out from the Ascension, Collier Row and Havering. Off Clockhouse Lane, Collier Row Recreation Ground, a 6.17-acre park opened in 1935 with the River Rom running through it and a play area added in 2006, and Havering Country Park, roughly 100 acres of former Havering Palace estate land reached via Clockhouse Lane (RM5 3PH) and St John's Road, are both useful reference points if your car is parked near either one.
Schools in the area include Clockhouse Primary on Lynwood Drive, Parklands Primary, built as part of the 1930s Collier Row housing estate, and Bower Park Academy on Havering Road in Romford (RM1 4YY), which serves secondary-age pupils from Collier Row. If you're calling us from near any of these, or from Rex Close Car Park, telling us so helps the technician find you quickly without needing a precise postcode read out over a bad phone signal.
None of this local detail changes the price or the process, but it does mean that when you call us from Collier Row, you're talking to someone who already knows the difference between Chase Cross Road and Collier Row Lane, and won't need you to describe the whole area from scratch before working out how to reach you.
Other call-outs we cover in RM5, and why we're straightforward about pricing
Alongside jump starts, we cover the same roads in Collier Row for car recovery and towing, from £80, mobile tyre fitting on ordinary roads, from £140, motorway tyre fitting, between £250 and £750 depending on the vehicle and the road, and fuel delivery if you've run dry, between £70 and £200. Every one of those prices is agreed with you on the phone before we dispatch anyone, in the same way as the jump start price, so there's no surprise figure once the technician is standing next to your car.
We're based at 68 Ruckholt Road in Leyton (E10 5NP). We don't have a depot or office in Collier Row itself, and we're not going to pretend otherwise. What we do is send a technician out from Leyton to wherever you are in RM5, whether that's the roundabout, a residential street affected by the School Street restrictions, or the shopping parade on Collier Row Road, and we agree the price and a realistic arrival window with you before that journey starts.
That's the whole approach: a fixed, agreed price for the actual job, a realistic estimate of when we'll get there rather than a live countdown we can't honestly promise, and a technician who tells you the truth about whether a jump start will actually solve the problem. If your car won't start anywhere in Collier Row, on the roundabout, on Chase Cross Road, near Havering Country Park or outside the Colley Rowe Inn, call us and we'll talk you through it.
If you're not sure whether what you need is a jump start, a tow, a tyre, or fuel, describe the symptoms when you call and we'll work out which service actually fits rather than assuming. A car that cranks slowly and clicks is usually a battery problem suited to a jump start; a car that's dead silent with no dashboard lights at all sometimes needs more than a jump start can fix, and one that's simply run out of fuel on the A12 slip road needs a delivery, not a jump start at all. Telling us what's actually happening gets you the right technician and the right price the first time.
Every job, jump start, tow, tyre or fuel delivery, is quoted and agreed with you on the phone before the technician leaves Leyton, and that agreed figure is what you pay. There's no card machine surprise once the work is done and no vague estimate that turns into a different number on arrival. If you're standing on Collier Row Road, at the roundabout, or on a residential street near Lynwood Drive with a car that won't start, that's the call to make.
FAQs
How much does a jump start cost in Collier Row, RM5?
Jump starts and flat battery call-outs start from £60. We agree the exact price with you on the phone before dispatching a technician, based on your vehicle and location, and that figure includes the call-out itself, so there's nothing extra added once the technician arrives.
Do you charge a separate call-out fee on top of the jump start price?
No. The price we agree with you on the phone before we set off is the price you pay for the visit. There is no additional call-out fee charged once the technician is on site in Collier Row.
Will a jump start definitely get my car running again?
Usually, yes, if the battery itself is simply flat rather than failed. Our technician tests the battery with a meter before and after the jump start; if it's holding charge, you're fine to drive on. If the battery has genuinely reached the end of its life, or the alternator isn't charging it properly, we'll say so rather than send you off in a car likely to strand you again.
Do you cover the Collier Row Roundabout and Chase Cross Road?
Yes. We cover all of Collier Row, RM5, including the roundabout where Collier Row Road, Clockhouse Lane, Chase Cross Road and Collier Row Lane meet, the stretch of Collier Row Road toward Hog Hill Road, and the residential streets off Clockhouse Lane.
My car has broken down on Lynwood Drive during school drop-off time, can you still get to me?
Lynwood Drive, along with Lynwood Close and Judith Avenue, is closed to non-essential vehicles from 8:00 to 9:30am and 2:30 to 4:00pm on school days as part of a trial School Street around Clockhouse Primary. Tell us this when you call and we'll either time the visit outside those windows or talk you through the exemption route, rather than turning up and finding the road closed.
Is there anywhere safe to wait for you near the roundabout if I can't stay in my car?
If it's not safe to remain in or right next to the vehicle near the roundabout, particularly given the recorded speeds and collision history there, move to the pavement well clear of the traffic and tell us exactly which arm of the junction you're on when you call. Rex Close Car Park (RM5 3JS) is a nearby public car park if your situation allows you to move the car there safely under its own power first.
Do you also do car recovery, tyre fitting and fuel delivery in Collier Row?
Yes. Alongside jump starts, we cover car recovery and towing from £80, mobile tyre fitting on ordinary roads from £140, motorway tyre fitting between £250 and £750 depending on the vehicle and road, and fuel delivery between £70 and £200. Every price is agreed on the phone before we dispatch anyone.
Do you have a depot or office in Collier Row?
No. We're based at 68 Ruckholt Road in Leyton (E10 5NP) and send technicians out from there to Collier Row and the rest of RM5. We don't operate a local depot in Collier Row itself.
Updated September 2026. Lines open 24 hours. Call 07960 200253.
Get a Jump Start Booked in Collier Row
Tell us where you are in RM5, whether that's the roundabout, Chase Cross Road or a residential street off Clockhouse Lane, and we'll agree a fixed price and a realistic arrival window before a technician sets off from our Leyton base.