I had my front pads replaced on my 55 plate 1.8 diesel Octavia and since then if I press the brakes in quick succession (pump) they start getting harder to the extent where it feels like there not being pushed. Is this the fault of the garage ( a national company) can any one help before a go back to garage to complain

Erm I'll have first go at this.

It's normal.

Any car pump the brakes the pedal gets firmer.

Does the car braking feel OK and actually apply the brakes?

Or you know all this and I'm sorry

Happens with my car as well. So I'd say it is normal.

Dosent feel normal I can be driving at speed and it still happen. First time I press pedal it's normally fine (once or twice been very hard) but on second and subsequent presses gets harder each time to point of third or fourth press feels like pedal doesn't even go down

Check the vacuum hose that goes to the servo (problems usually at/near connections). If that were leaking, it might take the vacuum pump longer to re-evacuate the servo after each push?

Thanks for info. Just trying to find out if it's something that could of been caused by a garage changing the brake pads which is when I first noticed it happening.

Wino could be right, a fault with the servo.  This may help:

 

http://www.mpbrakes.com/techtalk/how-to-series/how-to-diagnosing-a-hard-brake-pedal

Sorry, obviously I missed the point, why are you repeatedly pumping the brakes in the first inst?

 

I had my front pads replaced on my 55 plate 1.8 diesel Octavia and since then if I press the brakes in quick succession (pump) they start getting harder to the extent where it feels like there not being pushed. Is this the fault of the garage ( a national company) can any one help before a go back to garage to complain

Yes go back to garage and raise your point/ problem..

Could I ask, is the brake not efficient enough to slow you down when first applying the brakes, and you start to pump the foot-brake for better efficiency?

Not pumping brakes to make car stop. I noticed brakes felt odd so tried different things to replicate the issue but it can happen in traffic if having to stop start or going down hills or roads with lots of bends where a lot of braking happens if that makes sense

Thanks to all that have posted. Took it back to garage and they found a split in the servo pipe, they have taped this up and seems to have cured the problem in the short term at least

Taped as a temp fix until the proper hose / pipe comes in? 

 

Hope so