Skoda latest

Marc Mustard from the Skoda press office phoned earlier and has left the following comment on the blog. I have copied it to Gottfried and Marilyn Steigmann and am awaiting their response.

OFFICIAL COMMENT FROM SKODA UK
Hello. My name is Marc Mustard and I am a press officer for Skoda UK.Firstly, I'd like to say how upset we all are at the fate of this poor dog. Any driver who has ever hit an animal will know how upsetting this can be.
I have contacted the dealership outside which the incident took place and have been assured that they are equally distressed by the situation.
The manager, a dog lover himself, told me that the dog ran out through an open door moments after being dropped off by Mr Steigmann. It certainly was not 'put out of the showroom'.
If the staff there had had the opportunity to aid the dog, they certainly would have.
Once again, I would like to reassure all users of this website that Skoda UK and the dealer involved are most upset by this occurence.
Thank you for reading.
Marc Mustard, Skoda UK

I'll quote from the original email from Gottfried and Marilyn:
"My Husband picked the little dog up so that he would not be in any further danger and, with the little dog under one arm and Beinn on the lead in the other, looked for help.
He went into the entrance of a Skoda showroom (the nearest place) and an assistant there agreed to take the dog from him, keep it safe and call the RSPCA.
My husband, thinking that he had done his good deed for the day, continued with Beinn (their Westie) in the direction of Tescos. Hardly had he set on his way when he heard a screech of brakes and saw the rapidly slowing traffic. The little dog was out on the road again and had been fatally hit by a car.
He doubled back to the Skoda sales place and asked about what had happened, to be told by the Manager that the dog had been put out of the showroom. Quite apart from a total disregard for the fate of the dog, this person also seemed not to care about the hazard to motorists. It transpired that he did not like dogs and said that the person who agreed to help "was with a client".
A passing woman picked the dog up from the road (at risk to herself) but the little animal died before any help could be organised. She was very distressed, as was my husband."

It would seem the two sides of this story don't match. I had emailed the Hull Skoda dealership and offered them the right to reply some time ago and contacted the press office by email, too on the first day the blog went up. No response was received, you'd think if there had been an 'innocent' explanation they'd have been eager to set the record straight immediately!
The 'official' version of events was only received today - after approximately 1,000 people have read the blog and a proportion of those have probably complained to various parties!
We await Gottfried and Marilyn 's response...

Comments

Anonymous said…
sounds like a cover up to me. what a terrible fate for the poor dog and also feel for the person that hit the dog.the company ought to be boycotted.
alfmcmalf said…
Well that response doesn't cut the mustard with me;)

I look at that ad in a whole different way now. You know the one where they build a skoda out of battenburg cake. It was yuk then and even yukkier now.
Anonymous said…
Which ever is the truth it is very upsetting that a poor dog was killed. I do think that the dog finders version of events ring much truer than Skodas!!

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