Frozen Ignition Lock

[malcolmam]

It started when my wife called me in a panic as she was stuck in a car park and could not turn the ignition key to start the engine. I went to her with the spare key and 20 minuets later (With 2 broken keys blade separated from plastic) we decided to lock the car and travel home as it was now quite dark. I then googled the problem and to my surprise several people had the same problem and the cure recommended was to insert a slim screwdriver into the ignition lock and hit it with a hammer. So armed with this information the next morning I went to the car with my tool kit, unfortunately I didn’t have a slim enough screwdriver but found a slim allen key inserted this into the ignition lock and gave it a sharp tap with a small hammer, I felt the allen key move slightly down, removed it and tried the ignition key and it worked, started the car. Visited the dealer who rebuilt the ignition lock and cut 2 new keys, about £250 all told but a small price to pay for peace of mind. Hope this will be useful to someone.