My Octavia estate central locking motor intermittently stops working, and I have been struggling to find a spare......

Its marked as a Hella PA66-M40

here's a picture>>> Image of octavia - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Any ideas anyone?

Are you sure it's the motor, and not the wiring, probably either at the LH boot hinge or at a multi=plug?

Get one from a dealer about

I tried asking about this part by phone from the local Audi dealer, but was told that Skoda parts (to which the above number refers) couldn't be ordered.

So I went down to the local VW dealer and bought a replacement, no problem. The equivalent VW part number appears to be 1M0959781A, if that's of use to anyone.