Leeds teacher claims mechanic's son crashed her car while it was in for MOT

Sasha Buchanan, 26, booked her Audi A3 in for its annual inspection and was told that it had failed and needed £500 worth of work.

But when the car was finally returned to her from Burley Road MOT Centre in Leeds she discovered it had been badly damaged and shoddily repaired.

She says she later discovered a worker's son - who apparently had no licence or insurance - had taken the car on a massive journey.

He had then crashed into a people carrier - causing serious damage to both vehicles.

But she says he then failed to give any details to the victim - and simply drove back to the garage where it was patched up.

Sasha was initially told the car had been in a minor collision while on a test run after the MOT work was completed.

The first Sasha heard of the crash was when the owner of the van started pursuing her for damages - using photos she'd snapped at the scene.

Sasha, a teacher and mother of one, said during its time at the garage it had clocked up - 300 miles.

She said: "I booked the MOT through a third party and the garage picked the car up.

"I got a call saying that it had failed the MOT and needed £500 worth of work, they said a suspension arm needed replacing.

"They didn't say how long it would take to do because it was just the start of lockdown and they didn't know if they could get the parts.

"Then a few days later I got a call from one of the people at the garage who said they had some bad news.

"They said they had repaired the car and were doing a test drive and that it was involved in a crash.

"They said some nutter had come from no where and crashed into their driver.

''They said they would repair it and wouldn't charge me but they wouldn't give me any more details.

"They said it wasn't a big deal, just a bit of body work that needed doing."

Sasha's car was taken away for the MOT on March 23 but she didn't see it again until the beginning of April.

She said that she had to chase the garage for updates on the car, and that every time she spoke to someone the story would change.

She continued: "When I got the car back, I noticed that the drivers side doors wasn't aligned properly. I was sure it wasn't like that before so I called the garage to tell them.

"They told me to bring it back so they could repair it, but I didn't trust them by this stage so didn't take it back.

"Then I got a letter through from my insurer saying that my car had been involved in an accident, asking why I hadn't reported it.

"The letter said that there was an injury and someone was pursing me for damages.

"My partner went down to the garage to confront them, and they got really intimidating with him and they were making threats.

"Then that night we found the victim's name on the claim form and we looked him up on Facebook to ask what had happened.

"He knew the driver in the crash wasn't female so I was telling the truth, and he sent me pictures of the crash."

Sasha was shocked to see the state of her car in the crash - which had badly damaged both doors, leaving huge scrapes down the drivers side.

Worse still, the other car, a blue Mercedes people carrier, was also badly damaged with bodywork hanging off.

Sasha continued: "The victim told me that the driver of my car refused to speak to him or give any details, he said he'd have to follow him back to the garage to get details from there.

"But when the other driver got there, no one from the garage would give him any insurance details either - that's why he went through my insurer.

"I spoke to the garage again and eventually they told me the driver's name, when I called up he said it wasn't his fault and that the garage was setting him up.

"There was a big debate about whose insurance should pay for it. We were doing all this detective work because no one would help.

"It turned out the person the garage told me was driving wasn't, it was his son - who is 25 and doesn't have a licence or insurance.

"I don't know if he was testing the car or whatever but they all knew he shouldn't be doing that because they lied about who was driving.

"It turned out they had done 300 miles in my car between when I dropped it off and when it was in the crash, I don't know what they were doing with my car."

Sasha wasn't able to resolve the problem with the garage, and she said the police stated that they wouldn't get involved because it was a civil matter.

In the end, the company that she booked through - who Sasha has chosen not to name - settled the claim on her behalf.

She added: "The company that I booked the MOT got involved and sorted it for me.

"The garage has since gone into liquidation."