That was combined with increased costs, including a £62.1m early repayment charge on the group’s debts, as well as higher marketing and IT expenses.

The AA’s finances hit the brakes in the first half of 2015 as it recorded a pre-tax loss of £63.6m, down from a profit of £10.2m in 2014.

Group revenue fell 1.4 per cent to £484.6 million, as income from insurance services was also lower which served to push underlying earnings down 5.9 per cent to £199.2 million.

But Mackenzie said there are a couple of external factors which could affect the AA’s results going forward.

The AA said trading was in-line with expectations for the full year, and is reflecting the early phase of a major programme of modernisation and transformation as outlined at the year end.

He also flagged a potential increase in operating costs as a result of European Union legislation on holiday pay.

In addition, Mackenzie warned that a 58% increase in insurance premium tax due in November would “add considerably to the cost of vehicle insurance and is likely to exacerbate price sensitivity and increase churn”.

The boss of the AA has slammed new Budget hikes to insurance premium tax as “incredibly unhelpful and incredibly unexpected”.

“Our Roadside Assistance advertising was launched in June and has been well received”.

‘This together with changes to our product offering, pricing and marketing, is showing encouraging new sales, improving new retention and slowing the decline in personal member numbers’. This is the key step in reaching our three-year transformation strategy which will enable us to capitalise on the strength of the brand, modernise the business and enhance the customer experience as well as, over time, continue to reduce the financial leverage. The AA said the decline had slowed with numbers in the second quarter falling by 0.3% compared with the first.

Average income per personal member increased 6.2 per cent on past year , though growth is expected will be held back as renewal prices are cut in a bid to retain members.

Business customer numbers grew by 341,000 during the period to 9.98 million, a rise of 452,000 year-on-year.

Interest payments on that debt remain understandably huge, meaning its earnings (for some reason, the firm likes to talk about EBITDA – earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) have dwarfed its reported profit (or in this case loss) since its management buy-in and IPO past year .

It announced at the time a £935 million re-financing which included a £200 million share placing and £735 million in new debt to replace expensive loan arrangements from the past, which it said would save it £45 million a year. However, they’ve lost a third of their value since and now trade at levels last seen not long after the float.