Mother Vanessa Harrington and her baby were stranded on a freezing motorway after a recovery service told her she would have to wait more than two hours to be rescued.

When the truck sent by the AA eventually turned up she had to pay almost £200 to be towed home.

The mother-of-three said: "They can't treat people like this. What about giving priority to lone women and children in cars?"

Miss Harrington, 35, of Adelaide Square, Shoreham, was returning from Watford on Saturday when her N registered Ford Escort began to lose power on the M25.

She called the AA at 10.06pm when she discovered smouldering cladding under the bonnet.

Miss Harrington said she told the operator her 19-month-old son James was with her and had been in hospital twice with pneumonia.

But she was informed the company did not have anyone available to help until 12.45am.

The pair stood on a bridge over the M3 waiting for the fire service, who arrived within minutes.

Miss Harrington said: "It was freezing and dark. We were standing at the side of the car. I was told not to get in it because it was smouldering."

Police arrived to wait with her and she sat in the back of a squad car for more than 90 minutes before a breakdown truck arrived.

The recovery man said her AA cover meant he could only take her home if it was within ten miles - unless she paid £198.38.

A spokesman for the AA said: "Miss Harrington phoned at 10.31pm for service and was initially told the estimated arrival time would be 12.40am. In light of her circumstances, a garage agent was instructed to attend and they gave us an estimated arrival time of 11.35pm. According to the information we received from the garage, they arrived on scene at 23.15 - 45 minutes from the time of the initial call.

"The AA has an average time to arrive of 35 minutes but this can be affected by local weather and traffic conditions, as was the case that evening.

"Since Ms Harrington did not have recovery cover, she entered into a private arrangement with the garage agent for the 145-mile round-trip from Chertsey to Shoreham. The charge fairly reflected the cost of this.

"However, the AA would like to offer its apologies if Ms Harrington feels that the service she experienced on the evening was not up to our usual high standards."