The AA’s pre-tax profits fell 65% for the six months ending 31 July as weather extremes and pothole “epidemic” led to a 15-year high in breakdowns.

The extreme weather this year pushed the number of breakdowns to a 15-year high

The half-year fall – down from £80m in 2017 to £28m for the same period this year – follows an 8% increase in breakdowns in the period to 1.91m.

The breakdown recovery specialist said this was “significantly higher than both our expectations and the average over the last 15 years due to the extreme weather conditions”, and resulted in increased costs of third-party garaging to supplement its patrol availability.

Revenues were up 2% to £480m and the organisation added that it’s making good operational progress across its Roadside and Insurance businesses, and is on track to deliver FY19 Trading EBITDA of between £335m to £345m, despite the extreme weather conditions.