Around 100,000 motorists in Britain have been told they must stop driving their cars immediately – and may not be allowed back on the road for weeks or months.

The owners of two popular Citroens from the past decade have been hit by an urgent so-called 'stop-drive' action, which bars them from using their cars until they can have a dangerous fault repaired.

But Money Mail has heard from a dozen Citroen owners who have been told that they may have to wait weeks or months for a repair due to delays in sourcing the necessary replacement parts.

With no offer of a courtesy car, owners are being forced to buy new cars, ask for lifts to work, change their work shift patterns – and even move home to be closer to work.

Their plight will raise fears among all motorists that anyone can be forced off the roads at a moment's notice and indefinitely if their car is subject to a stop-drive action.

Citroen parent company Stellantis made the recall notice following the death in France last month of a Citroen C3 driver, who was struck by shards of metal from the car's faulty airbag during a minor collision.

C3 and DS3 models produced between 2009 and 2019 are now not roadworthy as a result. Driving them before they are fixed is illegal and will invalidate insurance.

Since June 20, 96,000 UK owners have been ordered to park up their cars indefinitely until the devices can be replaced – and are trying to book repairs with dealerships.

Bought a Ford Ka to get by

Tony Curtis, 66, a retired butcher and his wife Linda, 63, from Stourbridge, West Midlands, have a 2016 DS3 that Linda relies on to get to work at a coffee shop.

When they returned from a fortnight's holiday on July 6, they found a red-bordered 'urgent' stop-drive letter buried among a pile of post on their doormat.

'I called the local Citroen dealer and they said they haven't got a clue when they will get the parts to get the work done,' Tony says.

'I rang the Citroen helpline and they said all I can do is register my car in their system and someone will be in touch. I've not heard anything since. We've been told they can't provide a courtesy car.

'Where my wife works, you can't get there by public transport, so I've been left no choice but to buy a second car – a Ford Ka run-around for £3,000.'

With no confirmed date for when the recall work can be carried out, Tony says costs are quickly mounting up.

‘I’ve now got the depreciation of two cars to deal with, and two cars to tax. I have to keep the DS3 insured in case something happens to it on my driveway, and the MOT is running down but I can’t drive it to a test centre. When the DS3 is fixed, I’ll sell the KA, but I know I won’t get what I paid for it.’

Tony claims there has been a lack of information from Citroen and Stellantis. 'No one is telling us what is going on,' he adds.

Jackie Senior, 60, and her daughter Claudia, 21, from South Somercotes, Lincolnshire, both own Citroen DS3s.

Jackie, who works 12-hour shifts in a care home in Cleethorpes some 16 miles away, has resorted to negotiating shorter shifts so that she can use a local on-demand bus service that runs during restricted hours outside her usual shift pattern.

She says: 'Work has been understanding but if this goes on and on for weeks, it's going to affect my job. A taxi is too expensive.'

Claudia, a supervisor at a coffee lounge also in Cleethorpes, is staying on a friend's sofa so she can get to work.

Jackie said: 'She's only 21 and paying around £90 a month for her insurance. She's wasting all this money but doesn't want to cancel her policy in case we get a call to say her car can be fixed.'

Jackie's husband, who has been off work with a disability, has called the helpline three times, each time waiting on hold for an hour before being cut off.

She says: 'We asked the dealer about courtesy cars but they won't give us one let alone two. We were told to go to our insurers. Mine told me because it's not an engine-related issue, it would not supply a replacement car.'

Illegal to ignore order

The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) warns ignoring a stop-drive order or any safety recall could result in legal repercussions. If involved in an accident, drivers could also face prosecution, fine, penalty points or a driving ban.

A DVSA spokesman said: 'We are continuing to discuss with the manufacturer how it is managing the stop-drive recall and have received reassurances it is working hard to arrange repairs and minimise disruption for their customers.'

The DVSA says it is up to the discretion of manufacturers to provide hire cars or compensation for travel costs.

The Association of British Insurers says drivers must always adhere to a manufacturer-issued stop-drive instruction and inform their insurer.

Can't drive for 5 months

Andrea Richards, 56, from Cheltenham has to wait until November 13 for her DS3 to be fixed at a dealership 25 miles away in Worcester. 

'How can Stellantis claim to be dealing with this matter in a timely manner and then expect me not to drive my car for the best part of five months? It's unacceptable,' she says.

Jane Davis, a 71-year-old retired audio typist from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, says she had recently added her son to her DS3's insurance, so he could drive her to hospital for a hip replacement on August 20.

She managed to secure a booking for her car's airbag to be replaced on August 12. However, she has been told by the dealer that the appointment is 'not guaranteed'. 

Claire Bates, 47, from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, is a single parent and head housekeeper at a care home three miles from where she lives.

She has to beg lifts from colleagues and has three weeks until her airbag replacement scheduled for August 13. She was refused a courtesy car.

Some drivers have been informed by their dealership they may be able to claim back travel costs, though only £20 per day.

Stellantis says it is 'deeply sorry for the inconvenience' it has caused and expects all airbag repairs to be completed by the end of September.

It adds customers should not drive their vehicles to retailers and that the cars will be collected or repaired at home.

It is up to the dealership and not the car owner to arrange for the cars to be collected or repaired at home. Stellantis says owners should absolutely not drive their vehicles to garages to be fixed.

Other Stellantis workshops – including Peugeot – have now been drafted in to support repairs, while the RAC is also providing an airbag replacement service to accelerate the process on its behalf.

The company says due to such a large number of vehicles involved, there aren't sufficient courtesy cars available, adding priority is given to 'customers with the most urgent needs'.

Natasha Hayes, 47, works in a local hospital in the pharmacy procurement office and says the additional cost of having to get to work and back has left her and her family without enough money to cover a typical food shop or be able to visit family.

Natasha, who owns a 14-plate DS3, has been refused a courtesy car by Citroen, the repairing dealership and her insurer. She said the dealer had told her over a week ago that they had been expecting parts days earlier, but they are on 'back order'. In the interim, she's been told to retain any bus and rail tickets incurred while her motor is off the road but warned the maximum payout is £20 per day.

'I think this is disgusting behaviour of Citroen to leave us in this position,' she told us. 'I have been left stranded. If I don't go to work, I don't get paid. If I choose to drive my car, it's illegal and my insurance is not valid.

'I am left bewildered and amazed at the lack of help Citroen have provided us.'

Sandra J, 47, who works in design told us that she has only recently returned to work having recovered from a serious illness earlier this year that has restricted her ability to walk – and has only just started driving again as part of her recovery.

However, the stop-drive warning for her DS3 means she's having to rely on friends, family and expensive taxis for essential trips, including medical appointments.

Having received her urgent warning letter in the post on 1 July, she immediately contacted her local Citroen dealer. A week later, she also registered her detail on the RAC's dedicated page.

'To date, I've had nothing other than initial automated emails from both. As yet, I have had no contact about a date to get the work done, so am without a car,' Sandra tells us.

'This entire situation is really worrying. I just wish they were communicating better. So much for having disaster recovery plans in place as a business.

'If I don't get any updates soon, I'm going to have no choice but to scrap the car and find a way to fund getting something else.'

Julian Anderson sent us a photo of his Citroen C3 'parked up collecting leaves' having been unable to drive it for more than three weeks.

Julian, 70, who is retired and lives in Kinross, Scotland, has declared his car off the road with a SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notification) and says he will tax the car again once it has been fixed.

'Cancelling my tax is a loss of income to the Government. I wonder what the total loss would be to the Treasury if every owner of a Citroen impacted by the recall did the same thing,' he said.

Julian said he instantly registered his C3 on the Citroen website on 1 July as per the instructions in the urgent warning letter. 'I still haven't heard anything back from Stellantis about which dealership is going to replace the airbag and more importantly when.

Julian says the recall should be 'downgraded' so owners can at least continue to use their cars in emergencies without fear of breaching the law.

'Driving a car is a daily risk. And with the number of uninsured drivers on the road, I really don't think that this issue is any more of a threat than daily motoring. I've done more than 135,000 miles in my Citroen C3 without a problem. I understand that Stellantis wants to protect itself, but this is a major impact on the owners – and the company isn't willing to compensate us.'

T'anna Robertson, 22, a sales assistant from Fareham, Hampshire, is another customer impacted who relies on her 2015 Citroen DS3 to get to and from a retail job while also interviewing for interior design positions having just graduated from university.

She's currently leaning on her parents – who are also in full-time employment – for transport but says she's unsure how long this can be sustained.

'All I need to know is a timeframe [for when the repairs can be carried out]. If it's going to be months, my parents say they might simply buy me another car and get rid of the DS3 once the recall work has been carried out.'

Dawn Jane Johnstone, 57, from South Shields, is another DS3 owner who is being significantly impacted by not being able to use her car.

A clinical support worker for the NHS, she is currently signed off work with a disability and emailed us from hospital while waiting for an appointment with a consultant.

She says she's spent hours on the Citroen helpline – on one occasion, calling at 5pm and staying on the line until 8pm. She later discovered the call centre closes at 6pm but there was no suggestion of this on the pre-recorded system.

Having successfully secured a recall booking at a nearby dealer on 1 September, she contacted the large dealer network directly on 8 July about when and how her DS3 would be collected. 

The dealer responded to say the repairing branch is unable to pick up vehicles up and she must arrange this herself, which is categorically against the process Stellantis has put in place.

Her vehicle cannot be repaired at her property because she does not have off-street parking, she's been told. 

'I have three medical appointments this week with no means of getting there,' she told us. 'I'm disgusted with how it has been handled so far.'

Your rights if your car is subject to a recall

Money Mail's consumer lawyer Dean Dunham says: 'Under the Consumer Rights Act (CRA) goods, including cars, must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.

'When a car manufacturer issues a recall or safety notice, it is in effect admitting that the car breaches these obligations and you are entitled to a free remedy.

'If you purchased the car within the last 30 days, you can exercise what is known as the short-term right to reject under the CRA and hand back the car, but if you purchased it more than 30 days ago, you must give the dealership/manufacturer the opportunity to repair the issue.

'Consumers also have rights in relation to the amount of time a trader takes to repair or implement any other remedies. The CRA, therefore, provides that repairs/remedies must be made within a 'reasonable amount of time' and without significant inconvenience to the consumer.

'Here, the dealerships/manufacturer will get away with the time element (as they will argue this is simply how long it takes) but, in my view, will fall foul of the inconvenience element if the repair time creeps into several weeks.

'This could give rise to a valid claim for: i) compensation to cover the inconvenience; ii) a demand for a courtesy car; or even iii) a full refund, as section 24(5)(C) of the CRA provides that you can hand goods back and ask for a refund if a repair is not carried out within a reasonable time and/or you suffer significant inconvenience.

'However, the trader can make a deduction for the use of the car you've already enjoyed, and this can be a significant sum. The manufacturer will carry out the necessary repair regardless of when you purchased the vehicle.

'Finally, I've seen lots of people claiming that you will have no rights if you purchased the vehicle 6 or more years ago, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, or five years in Scotland. This is not entirely correct. 

'The manufacturer will carry out the necessary repair regardless of when you purchased the vehicle. 

'It is therefore only if you want to bring court proceedings (for the likes of an injury caused linked to the faulty car or for an inconvenience claim) when the timing of your purchase matters and even then, there's a fall-back limitation period of three years from the date you found out that the goods were faulty (which here will be the date of the safety recall notice). 

'So if the car was bought more than six years ago, but the you only became aware of the issue in the last three years, you may still be able to bring a claim. '