A colleague has told me the recent experience of his sister. Briefly, their new Citroen Saxo when delivered had a cosmetic problem with a seat and was changed under warranty. A short while after with her husband driving he braked rather hard and she was surprised to find herself and seat still moving forward. Fortunately she was not hurt. It transpired the new seat had been 'secured' with plastic ties by the garage junior. They complained to the garage who offered a Citroen umbrella. What redress do they have?
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They complained tothe garage who offered a Citroen umbrella. What redress do they have?
An umbrella???? What use is that when the passenger finds themselves catapulted through the windscreen still attached to their seat at 70mph??? (Ok I know the seatbelt would hopefully restrain them enough so that would not happen but that was the image that came to my mind)
I hope the garage has agreed to fix this??? I'm sorry I don't know about the redress for this incident, maybe one of our more legally-minded friends can help.
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I would have checked if it was raining where the sun ain't!
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There must be something regarding 'due care' here. And surely the workshop manager must be liable for letting the car go out without being checked after the garage monkey had been at it. Seriously, I'd advise them to check their car/house insurance to see if they have a legal helpline available to them. If not, then there may be a solicitor in their area who holds free clinics. Maybe a swift call to the SMMT wouldn't go amiss?
I certainly would tell them where to stick their umbrella. And I'd make sure that it was open first!
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Obviously, the garage needs to fix the car. I assume that this is in addition to the free umbrella.
Otherwise, while I agree with Rob's suggestion that a call to the SMMT about substandard workmanship might not be a bad idea, it's hard to see how you can sue them.
There is a duty of care; the problem is that it doesn't amount to a financial liability until something goes wrong. Think of it as akin to driving at 70 mph in a built up area - negligent and stupid but, if you hit someone and they die or are injured, you can be sued civilly as well as criminally prosecuted, whereas if you miss, the pedestrian has suffered no harm and so has no case against you.
If there was an accident caused or made worse by the faulty seat, then the garage or manufacturer would be liable, depending on whose fault this was. Until then though, the liability of the garage is limited to the harm suffered, i.e., the inconvenience of having to come back to the garage.
In this case, it appears that nothing bad has happened in tort, and in contract, their liability is limited to fixing the problem (presumably done) and, ideally, recompensing you for the small inconvenience. Money (or perhaps a free service) would be a nicer gesture than an umbrella, but realistically, there's nothing that a court can do for you because you've suffered no loss and the court doesn't exist to punish stupidity, if only because there's too much of it around.
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Has the car been repaired yet? If not, take some photo's of the problem.
Then get the car fixed by the garage, make sure you get a receipt detailing the work done (even if it is free).
Then write to the garage service manager, explaining briefly what they did and that you believe they left the car in a dangerous condition. tell him (or her, perhaps?) that you will be writing to Trading Standards. Don't ask for anything. If it's a Citreon dealer then write to Citreon UK also.
Then about 3 days later send a detailed written complaint (with copies of the photos) to Trading Standards. they probably won't be able to do anything about your individual case, but they will now have a complaint about dangerous workmanship and may target that garage next time they do a investigation into such matters in your area.
I think this is about the best redress you can hope for.
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