A motorist has been battling with car service chain Halfords after his car was wrecked in a collision while a staff member was test driving it.

The Alfa Romeo was supposed to be just getting an annual service, but the day ended with Ian Tubbs receiving a painful phone call from the Halfords Autocentre in Shirley, near Solihull, letting him know it had been in a crash.

It wasn't a simple bump, however. The Alfa Romeo had clipped two other vehicles and had come to a stop, embedded in railings, with two wheels ripped off.

It looked "completely destroyed" by the incident, and Tubbs added: "The whole thing has been a nightmare."

Initially Halfords stood by its employee's claim he'd been doing only 25mph and the car had been hit by a third party vehicle, but a police investigation reported that witnesses described the Alfa as swerving in and out of traffic before crashing, the Guardian reports.

Tubbs was eventually offered £19,500 for the write-off by Halfords' insurer, Aviva, but he contacted the Guardian because he says he's still been left out of pocket by around £2,000.

He told it that was "really shocked" by the way Halfords behaved. The crash happened just before Christmas 2023 and Tubbs told the Guardian this month he is still battling to get what he feels is due.

Halfords told the Guardian: “We recognise the distress caused by the recent incident of a collision during a routine road test by our technicians. We followed the necessary procedures by notifying our insurance company.

"We’ve apologised to Mr Tubbs for the inconvenience caused and we’re working to resolve this matter directly with him.”

AM recent reported how Halfords fired a technician who had been caught speeding in a customer's car during his service test-drive. 

The foolish National Tyres and Autocare technician was caught by the Seat Ibiza's dash cam and, after owner Gareth Lanka complained, Halfords, which owns National Tyres and Autocare, investigated and fired him