DryAsSticks

Sorry, just spotted your reply. Yes car was out of warranty. It was over 4 years old at the time without any extension. Mileage was about 38k I think.

I had the "Gearbox in emergency mode" problem last September. It happened while we were hundreds of miles from home but would reset when the engine was turned off for a few minutes. It would come back if the engine was worked hard. Got it booked it in at the main dealer when we got home and was quoted £86 (I think) for diagnostics if they didn't find anything. When it went in, they had found fault code logged (which meant I didn't have to pay the diagnostic fee) and they had already spoken to Skoda UK before they spoke to me. It's obviously a known issue as Skoda had already offered to pay 100% of parts cost (many hundreds) and 60% labour to replace the mechatronic unit. It was a special order part and took about 3 or 4 weeks to come in but got it fixed for less than £200 cost to me.