A Suffolk motorist was left without a car for three weeks, making it difficult for him to visit his partner, due to a faulty heating system in his £100,000 Audi E-Tron GT.

Darren Walne, from Felixstowe, was told by Audi a replacement part to fix the problem in his electric vehicle was not available anywhere in Europe and would take an estimated ten working days to arrive.

However, a month has passed and the problem has still not been fixed, while he was not provided with a replacement hire car for three weeks, meaning he had to rely on company cars sourced through his work for a haulage company.

Mr Walne needs the eco-friendly motor to visit his partner and her children, who live in Bishop's Stortford, two or three days a week, but the problems meant he could not defrost his car.

On Friday, he received a letter from James Allitt, head of aftersales at Audi, apologising for the situation and stressing the inability to obtain a replacement part was "due to supply constraints beyond our control".

East Anglian Daily Times: The Audi E-Tron GT owned by Darren WalneThe Audi E-Tron GT owned by Darren Walne (Image: Darren Walne)

Mr Allitt said Audi was working with suppliers to "get your vehicle back on the road at the earliest opportunity".

Mr Walne said: "I could not defrost the car and every time I moved it, it just frosted up again. Audi did not have any idea when the part would be in because they did not have it anywhere in Europe.

"Essentially, I have been without a car for three weeks. I have now sorted a hire car through one of the hire car firms and taken the Audi back to the depot," Mr Walne said.

An Audi spokesperson said: “Audi UK is aware of the issue relating to the heater unit on the E-tron GT and customers are being supported by their local Audi centre while we work on resolving the matter.

"Current supply constraints mean we are experiencing delays sourcing parts, but we are making every effort to minimise disruption."