A disgruntled customer has been told that the defect on his car window can’t be fixed due to a lack of documentation to prove the issue.

Hippo Motor Group, a car dealer in Blackburn, sold school bus driver from Leeds, Clive Chadburn a Vauxhall Crossland on December 23.

Clive says he noticed three chips on the windscreen when he went to collect his car in December but didn’t want to drill them due to the cold weather.

He said: “I was told by the salesman that if the chips split to give them a call and they’d sort it for me and assumed that would appear on a record somewhere.”

However, a spokesperson for Hippo Motor Group says during the handover process, Clive was offered the opportunity to look around and inspect the vehicle in order to note down any comments on his acceptance paperwork.

A copy of the paperwork signed by Clive and the handover specialist confirms that Clive documents everything was okay with the glass on the vehicle.

Two weeks ago, Clive says the chips started to crack so immediately tried to get in touch with Hippo Motor Group as soon as it happened but didn’t receive the reception he expected.

Clive said: “I’ve been going back and forth with them. They’ve shipped me from pillar to post, pillar to post and I had to call around 10 or 11 times and every time I just kept getting fobbed off.

“I finally started to get somewhere and received a response when I sent them an email with a photograph of the window but they’re saying they can’t do anything about it because there’s no documentation of it."

The car dealership said that since the handover in December, Clive contacted the customer care team regarding two separate queries, non-relating to issues concerning glass chips or cracks.

The spokesperson continued: "We have reviewed all the written communication and have additionally listened to the subsequent telephone calls between our customer care representative and Mr Chadburn, and there is never any mention of glass issues.

"On this basis, we were unable to uphold Mr Chadburn’s complaint and his request for a new windscreen was declined.

"Given the windscreen is made from glass it can damage at any time, hence why we have the handover form in place to ensure vehicle condition is accurately recorded at point of handover.

"Given the form was signed at handover and all was recorded okay, we can only surmise the damage after handover. Mr Chadburn’s request for a new windscreen did occur after three months of ownership."