Exactly. I was furious that they put peoples lives at risk. And at the same time ploughed ahead with less urgent work without authorisation I will post name of garage asap. Thank you all for such good advice. I was going to go to garage in person today as I wasn't involved with transaction. I'm very disappointed at service (but not surprised) as we have used this garage without problem for quite a while. I'll make sure of correct name and get it on here in next few minutes.

Brakes were obviously authorized but not other work. My problem with brakes was that they were so bad that they completely failed and yet the day before they were deemed good enough to pass MOT with just an advisory. Very dangerous and potentially more costly

Just yesterday

Thanks for your reply. We have the car (daughter paid on card as she was upset and intimidated) and all repair had been done. No opportunity was given to seek second opinion or even to accept cost of coil and plugs. Usually they would ring to get permission to go ahead with repair. This time they had carried out brake repair (agreed) and replaced (?) coil and plugs and refused to return car unless money was paid. Daughter was alone in dark at garage on industrial estate, having been dropped off by grandfather

My daughter, who is studying to become a primary school teacher, required a MOT for her Fiat 500. She booked it in at the garage which has carried out previous service/MOT/repairs. They have been very fair and helpful up to this point. The car passed the MOT with an advisory to replace brake pads and shoes in the not too distant future (but not a fail and not an urgent requirement). While getting MOT daughter was encouraged to have a full diagnostic check on car. In their own words "it will tell you everything wrong with the car, even the radio" . She went with the diagnostic check and it came back as requiring a new throttle, as the engine had 'lag' or a loss of power while travelling at speed. There was also a small leak on exhaust seal. The garage informed her that whilst neither was urgent and would not get worse, the throttle issue would continue to irritate until fixed. Reluctantly she took their advice and paid £216 (including £49 for diagnostic check). She really couldn't afford it, as she is a student but also needs her car to get to and from the school she is studying at. She picked car up on Tuesday evening after school and travelled home on slow local roads. When travelling to school on Wednesday morning, via dual carriageway, she noticed that the same loss of power issue was still present. On driving home, luckily at a slowish speed, her brakes failed completely and she failed to stop at a junction and travelled straight through with barely any reduction in speed, with her brake pedal flat to the floor. She dropped her car off at garage again on way to school on the Thursday morning. On Thursday evening, she rang me in tears. The garage wanted £400 for replacement of brake pads and shoes and also replacement of coils and plugs to fix 'lag' in engine. She explained that she had had diagnostic check on Tuesday and had already paid to repair 'lag' issue but it hadn't solved problem. Now they want more money to fix the same issue. They said that they were different issues and that the coil and plugs would not have been picked up on diagnostic check. She feels as if they have 'tried it on' because they could tell she knows nothing about cars (me neither). My issue is two-fold. I too think that they have charged her twice to fix the same problem. We have no idea if throttle replacement was required. It certainly didn't solve problem highlighted on diagnostic check. Secondly and more importantly, they passed her MOT with brakes that were clearly shot. This could have resulted in more damage to both car and my daughter. They refused to release car without payment and members of staff ridiculed her for getting upset as they left workshop. Car anyone give us any advice regarding whole situation and possible recompense please?