Lowri Davies

Did you know that if you lose the red key to a P-reg Fiat Ducato in a lake in the French Alps,? you have no option but to spend? 1226 euros to get all locks, ignition and immobiliser replaced?

? ?

Waving goodbye to my van!

That was a damn expensive slip up!

Some helpful hindsight? advice given? to me in the past? week:

1. Why don’t you have a spare key?!
2. You should have got a spare key and kept the red key in a safe place
3. Close your buoyancy aid pocket next time
4. Clip your key into your BA
5. Get one of those? floating keyrings

We tried all sorts? including searching by boat and with snorkels, offering a 500 euro reward for its return, using a magnet to fish for it, calling Fiat UK for a new key, calling the previous owner for any old keys, seeing if we could bypass the immobiliser? and getting quotes from various garages in France and the UK, but? I was left with two options:? abandon? her or effectively “re-buy” her.

Many thanks to anyone who gave up their time to search for the key or? help in any way. I’d particularly like to thank Kate Bankes who has been very kind and helpful in dealing with the French Fiat dealership.

I get the van back tomorrow.