A mum and son's Christmas Day was ruined after they were left stranded on the M25 for seven hours.

Elle Crawford has slammed the RAC for leaving her waiting for hours after her car broke down near Dartford while she was travelling to Strood.

The 26-year-old, from Orpington, was travelling from her grandparents home to her partner's grandparents with her five-year-old when her white Dacia began to slow down at around 2pm.

Elle rang RAC ten minutes later and was told someone would be with her within 45 minutes, but nobody showed up.

She rang back a second time at 3.45pm and was told a second recovery vehicle was on the way but it could only take her home and not to her Medway destination as it was too far away.

"By this time my little boy had been in the car for two hours on Christmas Day and I just wanted him to have some sort of Christmas," Elle explained.

"I rang RAC back and they told me the latest I would be waiting for a recovery would be 5.45pm which would have meant a three hour wait on Christmas Day for my son, despite being told 45 minutes.

"I rang my mum and dad who came to pick him up in a taxi, which cost £70 for a round trip, although we were only 10 minutes away from home.

"My dad then stayed with me and my mum took my son home."

At 6pm there was still no sign of a recovery vehicle and Elle rang for a third time.

RAC told her the original recovery vehicle had cancelled six minutes after accepting the job but nobody had informed her.

Elle added: "At this time it was quite dark and the part of the motorway I was on wasn't well lit.

"I asked RAC and highways police if I could leave my car and was told I would have to pay to get it back, which made me furious as I'd been waiting for four hours.

"At around 7pm my hazard lights stopped working, so it was really dangerous for us to be there as my car wasn't visible."

The Orpington mum explained how eventually the RAC told them a recovery vehicle was definitely on the way and would be an hour, but there was only one space in the vehicle and my dad would have to get a taxi.

However, after arriving at 8.30pm, the recovery driver allowed Elle's dad to sit in the back of her car which was being towed.

She added: "The most frustrating thing of all is that when myself and my dad jump-started my car the following morning it turned on and drove fine.

"There is obviously something wrong with it and if the RAC had sent a mechanic out we would have been able to get off to motorway and leave the car somewhere."

Elle got home at around 9.30pm and said she is making a complaint to the RAC and the experience "completely ruined" her Christmas.

After a struggle to get her car off the recovery truck the ordeal wasn't completely over until around 10.30pm.

An RAC spokesman said: "We’ve spoken to Elle to apologise and are pleased to say she’s accepted a gesture of goodwill in addition to our reimbursing her taxi costs.

"We’re confident the next time she needs our help she’ll receive our normal high standard of service."