I have had my 04 Fabia VRS since 2008, bought on 76,000 miles and now on 154,000. It has been a fantastic car, bar the few issues that most of them seem to suffer from:

• I now have a nice matt silver spoiler because the paint peeled off, which seems par for the course according to others.
  
• My rear wiper washer unit rusted completely and had to be cut off and replaced.
  
• My boot has issues opening, sometimes it is fine, other times it just will not pop, not via the remote key or with being repeatedly tried by hand.
  
• Passenger door has vibration issues when driving sometimes, very annoying. Worse with music at any kind of volume.
  
• Rear door seals needed to be re-sealed as kept flooding the back.
  

However, most of these things have been minor niggles really. Apart from replacing rubber suspension bushes and fixing ARB bar, mechnically it has been briliant, still on its original clutch and turbo etc.

Now I finally have an issue that is more than just an annoyance: the front passenger doorlock has completely died with the door deadlocked. It now cannot be opened at all. This means I have to rip off the inside trim with the door shut in order to get at the lock mechanism and open the door.

Has anyone done this and can offer any advice? When I expose the lock mechanism, what should I try and do to force it open?

It is annoying as I was planning on changing the car in the next few months or so.

Having the same issue bud, so if u find away to sort it gives a shout and al do the same!