Dad's dream campervan became his 'worst nightmare'
Matt Collins says it took 14 month for a garage to return his van and it was filled with mould.
Dad's dream campervan became his 'worst nightmare'
Matt Collins' dream campervan turned into a nightmare which took 14 months to return
What started as a dream come true ended up as a dad's "worst nightmare" after his campervan was handed back 14 months after it broke down in France.
Matt Collins, from Redditch, bought the vehicle for £7,000 last year and intended to tour Europe with his family after spending time restoring it.
But just two days into the journey, the campervan broke down in France and was taken to a local garage after Collins got in touch with the RAC. When it was eventually returned to Worcestershire, he said it was missing an engine and covered in mould.
The RAC said the nearly 25-year-old campervan had suffered a major engine failure, but accepted that the situation should have been handled more proactively by its partners.
"Buying that campervan was a dream come true for me and my family," Collins explained.
"We'd saved up for it and I'd put all my hard work into it to make it clean and tidy."
After the vehicle was taken to a local garage, Collins and his family returned to the UK without it.
The Redditch dad said he spent months pursuing updates on the repair, but got very little information about when it would be back.
"It was an absolute nightmare. Just trying to get some confirmation as to when the van was going to be fixed," he said.
"I got told it would be September, then it became Christmas, January, and then it was just radio silence."
Collins said it had been a "nightmare" trying to track his van down
Collins said the campervan was finally returned on 15 October.
"The state of the van when it came back... it was crazy. The paint was peeling, there was no engine in there," he said.
"I knew it would be in a state but I didn't expect it to be... my worst nightmare, basically, has come true."
The campervan was eventually returned 14 months after the initial breakdown in a "crazy" condition
He said the inside of the vehicle was just as shocking.
"All the seats were ripped up, there was cat hair, dog hair, you name it. There was mould, all my clothes and camping gear had been completely wrecked."
An RAC spokesperson said Collins had been "badly let down" by the independent garage that was supposed to repair the campervan.
"While we were not responsible for the mechanical fault that caused the breakdown, we're extremely sorry for what followed," they said.
The spokesperson said the RAC had offered to fully repair the campervan at its own expense and provide a "significant gesture of goodwill", but said the offer was not accepted.
They added that a proposed financial settlement had also been rejected and said the organisation believed it had "made every effort to put matters right".