‘I’ve been surviving on handouts’: Chaos as 120,000 UK drivers left stranded by ‘do not drive’ cars
Hundreds of thousands of UK drivers were stranded without moving to chaos.
On June 20, many of the Citroen and DS models were forced by the roads of about 120,000 vehicles after publishing ‘Do not order’.
The company says he remembers the affected vehicles for repair in stages. However, the unprecedented scale of the action, some garages and dealers admitted that repair subsidiaries are now well reaching well for next year.
In the meantime, the owners of the affected models cannot use their tools – many of them without alternative transportation modes. The stopping order means that they cannot sell their cars, while ignoring it can cause legal problems such as fines, driving ban or undergraduate scores.
Stellantis is now called? To correct the faults or to take urgent action to provide appropriate compensation to drivers. The Consumer Rights Group says that too many people are stranded without any means of transportation and cause a major deterioration in their lives.
Petra*, a customer, explains how he works many times to get help from Citroen, and now he has to rent a car about £ 900 from his pocket because he has to rent a car.
His partner has terminal cancer, so he relys on the vehicle to take him to the hospital for basic treatments.
“This is my month’s money,” he said.
Stellantis also confirmed that no compensation was offered to the affected drivers, and that the “most urgent need” was given to customers who were given courtesy cars.
According to consumer laws, any repayment or repayment for faulty goods should be sought independent of the retailer where the car is purchased, not a manufacturer. This process is independent of the producer and if it fails, the only application that leads the complaint to the court.
Eva, a software engineer from Cardiff, reserves unpaid ferry and Eurotunnel service reservations and planned to go to the Netherlands for a camp trip in mid -August.
The DS3 car was no longer driven, but it meant that EVA had to think about alternative options or to think of the risk of losing £ 1,000. Later, he was given a repair date conflicting with a large surgery in London.
Eva faced her surgery and holidays, decided to buy a new car that took £ 10,000 back.
“This was a gigantic headache, and Stellantis was respectfully useless,” he said.
All affected automobile models are equipped with airbags produced by Takata, an automatic part company that went bankrupt in 2017. Airbags inflatables are globally recalled globally due to chemicals that may be disrupted over time, ie the airbag can be distributed inappropriately and may cause injury.
Vicki is a new mother with an early baby that requires a visit to the hospital frequently. After he was born, he took the child home before he found out that he was in place.
He was told that his car could be corrected as soon as possible. Um I thought we needed a car for trips to the hospital, I got a little lost about what we could do, ”he said.
Which? He urged Stellant to approve the official compensation plan, improve the performance of aid line and provide clearer instructions to the garage network.
Sue Davies, which? Consumer Protection Policy Head, “Without trapped through any transportation, those who paid a reserve to rent cars and taxis, and the emotional and financial burden of this remembering fell to those who can minimize it.
“Stellantis should urgently confirm that it will pay compensation for alternative transportation and offer practical solutions such as offering repairs at home or withdrawing cars to garages.
“The government needs to take into account and take them into account to ensure that the UK consumers should do much more about what they should do and what they are entitled to.
A Stellantis spokesman said: “The focus of the company continues to complete the replacement of airbags in the affected vehicles as quickly as possible. Our Citroën Network is completely interacting to increase our repair capacity and to minimize the impact on customers every day and continue to replace our Peugot network.
“For each customer, we discuss the options to support mobility by admitting that each driver has certain requirements. Among these options, spare airbags, courtesy, other mobility options and recovery support. We prioritize the most urgent needs.”
A DVSA spokesman said: “DVSA supports Citroën’s decision to recall the C3 and DS3 immediately and will help them when necessary.
“We work with Citroën to ensure that everyone with these vehicles knows that they cannot use this car model until the necessary repair works are carried out.
“To check if your vehicle is affected, car owners can use Cheater on Citroën’s website.”
