Car in question WAS a Daewoo Nexia Glxi, of 1995 (Dec.) vintage, having been owned and (mostly) driven by a lady, my partner during that time. I drove it rarely. It was mostly used for shopping trips, & so only covered 20,000 miles in its lifetime. Serviced by franchised agents, Halfords at proper intervals. Last service & MoT in Oct. at 19,200 miles.

Thereafter all was well until an odd misfire occurred on the last 5 trips, returning from shops, some 8/9 miles altogether. Accompanying power loss ensured driver halted car, and after 30secs, power resumed and journey completed without further problems. On the fifth occasion, I decided something needed attending to, and phoned Halfords to book car in. Question given by service reception, "What's wrong with the car?" seemed a bit fruitless, especially as lady driver had no idea, other than the petrol may be dirty or the spark plugs need changing.

Car was booked in for diagnosis, some ten days after call made, with no warning as to whether or not to use the car. According to the AA & RAC, they would expect a proper service garage to advise user to NOT use the car at all, until fixed, & then to drive VERY slowly to the service centre. Such advice was not given. It was fortunate that I had to drive the car on the fateful day, Jan 26th, as I just happen to be a retired fire officer, now a fire safety consultant, and thus was partially prepared to deal with what was to happen on the return trip I made to collect some goods.

When about 1.5 miles from home, having covered the great distance of 15 mies (more than the car had to do usually) the missfire occurred, with the power loss experienced before. To get off the A20, I drove onto a pub car park, and examined the engine compartment, where everything appeared 'normal', with a proper tick-over. When using the throttle linkage, the misfire returned. Then a passer-by drew my attention to "a fire underneath the car", which there was. It was the wnder-body sealant which had melted and dripped onto the road surface, now flaming gently. The car was reversed off the flames, and smoke began to show through the gear shift gaiter.

I had a fire extinguisher in the boot, so operated the electric release button. At the boot, I appreciated that the electrics had failed, so returned for the ignition key. Now f lames were coming through the gear shift. On opening the boot, and partially unloading the goods, a sudden "flashover" occurred and I withdrew to a safe distance, and called the fire brigade. The car was totally burned out in 4/5 mins. My theory is; when cars are used on short trips, the catalyst cannot reach high enough temperatures to burn off exhaust emmissions, which include carbon particles. Said carbon accumulates in exhaust, causing blockage to flow and back pressure to engine. Fuel injection pumps more petrol in than can be combusted in engine, residue passes into exhaust and carbon deposits.

This in turn damages the catalyst, exacerbating the problem. Eventually, when a longer journey causes the catalyst to heat up sufficiently, ignition of those deposits will happen, with the consequences I found out about, quite accidently. It is noted that Daewoo instruct service technicians to examine the exhaust catalyst converter for clearance to the underside of the car, so as to prevent heat igniting the combustible undersides, such as the sealant and rubber and plastic gaiters. I wonder if this check had been carried out competently at the last service, bearing in mind that service was only some 780 miles previously.

It was also noteworthy to appreciate that the central locking, which the usual driver always operated, failed and the door had to be opened with 2 actions - firstly to raise the locking button, then to pull the release lever. It doesn't take much imagination to realise that many lady drivers may find themselves in this situation, as on the school run or shopping, and how would they react in such a scenario? I reckon that someone somewhere should be giving further thought to this potential, with attendant publicity.