Got up this morning at 05.30 to get ready for work, looked out of window to see if there had been any more snow and found my brake lights were on. Went out and managed to get into car ok, put my foot on the brake pedal and although it was solid the brake lights went out. I then tried to start it, there was a lot of clicking sounds while i waited for the glow plugs to do their thing, none of the dashboard lights went out and when I tried starting an alarm sounded. I'm just assuming it's a case of the brakes have frozen on but I have never had this happen in 30 years of motoring. Has anyone got any other ideas of what it could be, and how do I get it going again. Many thanks in advance and a happy christmas to you all, Ian.

I doubt the brakes have frozen on. Sounds like an electical systems fault.

The brakes themselves have nothing to do with the brake lights, they are operated by a switch above the brake pedal. After you leave the car for a short period the servo looses its vacuum so its perfectly normal for the brake pedal to be solid when parked and the engine not running.

It sounds like you have an electrical fault, and the battery has drained and thats why the car is now behaving the way it is. You'll need to check for water ingress into the interior as it sounds like you have a leak and thats caused the electrics to get wet.

had exactly the same thing happen to me a couple of weeks ago, then it happened again yesterday. I just pushed the brake pedal and the lights went off. Problem is, this time it flattened the battery.

There was a known problem with the Brake Light Switch, under the Brake Pedal, deciding to turn itself on and flattening the battery but this was a couple of years ago. Could be you simply have a dodgy switch as they are affected by atmospheric pressure - why I dont know but that was what I was told and after a new switch was fitted I had not more problems.

Also once modern batteries have been drained to flat many will never hold a full charge again so be prepared for a new battery - luckily mine was changed under warranty.

There was a known problem with the Brake Light Switch, under the Brake Pedal, deciding to turn itself on and flattening the battery but this was a couple of years ago. Could be you simply have a dodgy switch as they are affected by atmospheric pressure - why I dont know but that was what I was told and after a new switch was fitted I had not more problems.

Also once modern batteries have been drained to flat many will never hold a full charge again so be prepared for a new battery - luckily mine was changed under warranty.

Hi Luke, thanks for your reply. took the car back today from the dealer where I got it and luckily the service manager formaly worked for skoda. He said straight away that it was the light switch, and this is still a common problem in VW group cars.