Outraged mum tracked car's 22-mile trip during Motorpoint service appointment

An outraged Motorpoint customer has told The Sun newspaper how her daughter’s Ford Fiesta was driven 22 miles during a service appointment with Motorpoint.

Beverley McClarnan said that data shared by the vehicle’s Ford Pass Car App flagged-up its trip around Swansea when it should have been in the workshop at the car retail group’s Llansamlet facility.

After an initial notification - delivered at midnight on October 10 - suggested someone had made a journey, further messages were recieved suggesteing the car had been parked at 2:37am, before travelling to a school late that morning and returning to Motorpoint at 8.08am.

McClarnan claimed that the range-topping Fiesta Vignale was later found to be dented with muddy footprints, gum and ash inside upon collection – leaving her 18-year-old daughter in tears.

She claimed that dashcam footage had also been wiped from the car – something Motorpoint “categorically refute” – and that she was later told that employees with driveways would often take customers’ cars home.

After contacting Motorpoint's head office, she was informed this was not normal and, after the initial offer of a £100 valet service, demanded further redress.

Motorpoint has subsequently offered to bu back the car and cover all costs.

In a statement issued to The Sun newspaper a spokesperson from Motorpoint said the business had been “disappointed to learn that there have been areas where we have fallen below the very high standards we demand of ourselves”, adding “we apologise unreservedly”.

Motorpoint added: "Although not common practice, from time-to-time it is necessary for members of our vehicle preparation team to drive a customer’s car in real world conditions when a fault has been reported that cannot be identified using electronic diagnostics on site.

"This sort of real-world diagnostics is only ever carried out by a fully insured preparation specialist and only when strictly necessary.

"On occasion, to expedite the process for the customer, this testing may involve the team member driving the vehicle on their journey home. Where this is the case, we have very strict rules in place regarding security, mileage and usage.

"In this particular case, the customer’s car driven directly to and from the team member’s home and was parked overnight on a secure off-street driveway with security lighting and CCTV. Footage from the CCTV surveillance shows that the car did not move all night.”

Additionally Motorpoint said that it would “categorically refute” the accusation that a member of our team deliberately wiped the memory of the customer’s dashcam device, but added: “To protect the privacy of our customers and staff, it is standard practice to disable these kinds or recording devices while the car is in our care.”