A mate of mine had the same problem on his Pug and it turned out to be something called a lamba sensor (something like that) had failed which caused the ECS to shut down and so the car wouldn't start.

A bit late I know , but . Put the keys in your pocket ....unclip the quick-release terminal on the battery . Leave it half an hour . Clip it back on . Lock twice using keyfob . . Leave 5 mins . Then unlock with keyfob and start it and go on your merry way .

Thanks for that, I read something similar on a Peugeot owners web site but didn't understand a word of it, thats a lot simpler, I'm going up there this afternoon to speak nicely to it so I'll try that and if all else fails how much do you charge for a recovery from Otly to LS16 ?

I think my next car might be an old Mk 1 Cortina or possibly an old Landy. With all the bollox surrounding new vehicles, they're simply far too expensive to repair, should a problem occur. Earlier this year I had a soft recall on my Passat, all four injectors and the injector loom were replaced - cost? £3k+. All done under warranty but in five years time, that will be more than the value of the car. Similarly, I replaced a parking brake motor after it burned out in icy conditions, that alone was £250. At least with the Cortina or Land Rover anything I couldn't fix could be sorted by the local blacksmith.

Any news on what the problem is Jerry?

Pft! Well its not the battery although the Peugeot mechanics money was on that.

The good news is that it probably isn't the emission control gizmo as that warning light will stay illuminated simply because the engine isn't running yet.

My guess now is the starter motor because having stood and listened with the bonnet up tonight it does definitely click when the ignition is turned, but nothing else - hit it with a hammer for good luck but that did naff all to fix it.

So its still at the hotel, but the good news is that I called at the Peugeot dealer this lunchtime and they have a car in there that I'd quite fancy, so I'm currently twisting the arm of the salesman who has to date sold me about ten cars, to get me out of this motionless car into the one on his forecourt - and of course they are desperate to sell at the moment, watch this space, tomorrow is when he has to come up with a deal for me.

So tomorrow its back on the bike for me.

Another thought strikes me as an outside bet. our previous Citroen (another french car) used to cut out sometimes - even when driving, which was dangerous. It would sometimes restart after a few minutes, other times hours later. It seemed dead and wouldn't turnover. The garage's diagnostic computer couldn't find anything wrong after several visits (when still under warranty). After about 3 years the fault was found - fuel relay as I recall which was a simple fix and it never went wrong again. I thing we'd even suggested that to them but they reckoned not until they "discovered" it themselves about 18 months later. It was awful - brand new car that could stop in the most awkward of places.

If all you are getting is a click from the starter it might be worth going 'old school' on it . Do the dash lights dim when you turn the key ? It they do then it is lkely to be a starter motor problem .If not then clip a jumplead from negative side of battery to the engine block/lifting eye/exhaust manifold etc , and try again .

Car fixed.

Called local garage out for a recovery or fix-on-the-spot, guy spent half an hour giving it all a good go over.

Blown 20amp fuse.

Could still be an indicator of an electrical problem but as long as it keeps starting for as long as it takes to get it traded in then I'm happy, total cost of call out £37 + vat.

I provided the fuse.

Thinking of all the expensive things it could have been - yes.

I'm also glad that I know the sales guy at the Peugeot dealer so well, the recovery garage that he told me to ring are the ones that they (Peugeot) use except for the fact that if I'd told them (Peugeot) to organise a recovery and inspection in their workshop it would have been just a tad more expensive, for a fuse.

Glad you got it sorted, Sounds the same as what happened to me, but like you say, it could mean theres something else going on. It wasn't that long after replacing the fuse that my fuel pump went altogether.

Only just read this.
My money was going on a jammed starter ring gear.
I'd have been wrong then.

Just to cap this off, the same thing happened today after another two hour drive just the same as last week, tried to start it up for the return journey and it was dead again, luckily I'd bought some spare fuses, changed the starter circuit fuse and it started fine.

So I've checked a Peugeot users forum and found that its a known issue with 307s, the car will run on short commutes for the rest of its life but take it on a long run and the chances are you'll pop the fuse when you try and restart it, every post on that forum topic exactly describes what happened to me, some people changed their starter motor to solve it, I've followed the advice of a Peugeot technician and changed the fuse from 20A to 25A.

We'll see what happens.

I like it when cars have foibles, it makes them feel human, its been ages since I had a car with foibles, this one almost grumbles to me every morning.

My Citroen is the same, on-line forums are a god-send.