Car lover Darren Egan's feud with a car dealership which has led to years of legal action has been slammed by a judge as 'completely cuckoo'.
The marathon legal battle between Darren and Millhouse Audi in Bath finally reached the Court of Appeal in London. So far legal bills in the case, which revolves around whether or not a silver Audi TT purchased in 2004 for £33,000 has a propensity to steer to the left, have reached £100,000.
The dispute has now rumbled on for three years. Noting that the amount of money in question was only about £6,000, Lord Justice Ward told both sides: "You've all gone completely cuckoo. It's just madness; commercially it's completely crazy."
The super-charged saga began when Darren bought the car from Motor Services (Bath) Ltd - trading as Millhouse Audi. He complained three days later that the car suffered from a "left deviation" at speed. Attempts to rectify the problem, he claimed, only made matters worse while changing the tyres had no effect. He eventually returned it a month later claiming it was not fit for sale.
But Millhouse Audi refused to accept there was anything wrong with the top of the range V6 Audi. For two and a half years the dream machine has languished in storage, depreciating steadily in value, as the dispute - and the costs - raged.
After a four-day county court hearing in December last year, where rival experts testified on the condition of the car, Judge Rutherford ruled in favour of the dealership and dismissed the claim under the Sale of Goods Act.
And now, after a full day of legal argument Lord Justice Ward, sitting with Lady Justice Arden and Lady Justice Smith, reserved their decision on Mr Egan's appeal and will give their ruling at an unspecified later date.
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