A NORTH Wexford estate is notorious for cars being set alight, Wexford's Small Claims Court has heard. Teresa and Nigel O'Neill, of 4 Riverchapel Walk, Riverchapel, brought a claim against Felix and Francis Byrne, of Byrne's Garage, Tinnock, stating that the failure to properly replace a clutch had led to their car catching fire, with the blaze then spreading to two cars parked beside it.

Though the married couple's comprehensive insurance policy covered the replacement of their car – which they had paid Mrs O'Neill's nephew €3,500 for just a week before it went up in smoke – they brought a claim for €1,200 against Byrne's Garage for the contents of their 2001 Opel Astra, which included a baby seat, booster seat, buggy and CDs.

Mrs O'Neill told Judge Donnchadh O Buachalla that she left the car in at Byrne's on November 28, 2008, to have the clutch replaced and paid ¤370 for the job.

The following day, a Saturday, she said she was leaving Riverchapel Walk to go into Gorey when she found she couldn't change gears. She also smelled fumes coming from the car.

She was aided by neighbours to push it into a parking bay in a cul-de-sac and called Francis Byrne, who told Mrs O'Neill that he had no-one available to go collect the car until Monday morning.

However, he did send out a mechanic, accompanied by a young employee from Byrne's, to have a look at it that Saturday. Byrne's were also given the keys to the car.

'The next thing I heard about it was that it was up in smoke with two other cars,' said Mrs O'Neill. The Gardaí and Fire Brigade attended the scene of the fire, which started around 6 a.m. on Sunday morning. The second car was also completely destroyed and the third was fire damaged.

Solicitor Lana O'Gorman, for Byrne's, asked Mrs O'Neill why the car went on fire. 'The clutch obviously wasn't done, there was fumes,' said Mrs O'Neill. 'Obviously the job wasn't done right, I'm not a mechanic.'

Ms O'Gorman, who was accompanied in court by two mechanics, one of them Francis Byrne, informed the judge that while a clutch can cause a burning smell, it is not flammable and cannot catch fire.

Ms O'Gorman said that the driver of a recovery truck from Tomkins Garage, who has the Garda contract for the area, had informed Francis Byrne that he had removed many other burnt out cars from the Riverchapel area and that cars being set alight is a particular problem there.

Judge O'Buachalla asked Mrs O'Neill if she had heard about this from her neighbours or the Gardaí, or had looked into the matter. She said she hadn't. She also said she hadn't brought a mechanic – or any other way of substantiating her claim – to court.

'Are you wasting time here?' he asked, but Mrs O'Neill said she wasn't and pointed out that she is up and down to Rathdrum on a regular basis as her mother is in hospital there.

'Garda Paul Buckley said he knows it's not a malicious matter, but a fault in the car,' said Mrs O'Neill.

Ms O'Gorman said that as Felix Byrne is recovering from a brain haemorrhage, the claim would be met by Francis Byrne, who has many years experience as a mechanic.

Mr Byrne did not dispute that there was a problem with the replacement clutch and said the mechanic he dispatched on the Saturday acknowledged that there was a problem with it and it wasn't engaging gears.

He said he dispatched a driver to Riverchapel Wood, as agreed, on the Monday morning, but he found no car, just the mark on the ground where it had been burnt out.

However, Mr Byrne said that a clutch can't set a car on fire as it's not flammable. He pointed out that it can cause the smell of burning as it operates through friction, but that it cannot go on fire or start a fire. The mechanic brought a clutch disc to court to demonstrate this for Judge O Buachalla.

'I'm not disputing there was a problem with the clutch, but a clutch can't set a car on fire,' he said.

Mark Wallcock, of Tomkins Garage, collected the burnt out Opel Astra for the Gardaí, along with the other vehicles.

He reported that he has had 14 similar cases in the Riverchapel area, some in that very estate, in recent times, the most previous being just two weeks ago. Mr Wallcock also told the judge that there's no way a clutch can set a car on fire.

'This is a very difficult time for the O'Neill's, but from a legal point of view you should have taken the items out of the car, rather than leave them there. I can't find any legal liability attaching to the Byrnes. My heart is with you, but I can't make any decree in this matter,' said Judge O Buachalla.