Oh i couldn't resist such a dreadful pun

Two seperate Swedish road tests of the new Fabia Combi resulted in BOTH having problems with the brakes partially failing on slushy roads (in urban situations). Skoda are investigating the cause.

Link to Dagens Nyheter: Fabia kan ha allvarligt bromsfel

(Its probably out there in english somewhere too!)

Skoda say that the factory has not had any complaints from other countries as yet, so if you have seen/heard/experienced anything it would be good to compile a list

Do they mean not operating at all or locking or??

Not operating at all and/or pedal going soft in varying degrees (to the extent the car would not stop on occasion)

This just sounds a bit like the usual brake wash-out that you sometimes get when driving in cold and salty roads for long periods without frequent braking. I believe that Audi and others developed a system to frequently slightly apply the brakes automatically to wipe the discs dry. You will see that a lot of cars now have either this fitted or a very low spoiler in line with the area in front of the front wheels. Audi also tried to use friction material optimised for cold weather/salty conditions. I complaine to VW about this wash-out in my B5 Passat but got the answer back that the brakes would be working as designed - if I wanted to improve things then I would have to pay to get the later Audi pads fitted, this was while the car was still under warranty, around this time an Audi driver from Dundee reported this to Auto Express and they got the same answer - also that this problem had been designed out of the current models. Oh and VAG also said you should check your brakes frequently before you use them?!? This is a well known "post asbestos" problem. Shame Skoda got caught out if this is the problem. Personally I just waited until the pads and discs were ready to change (driving very carefully - hopefully - during cold/salty conditions) and fitted ATE Power Discs - they are grooved and added the B5.5 additional lower spoiler extensions, now no problems.