A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER has urged pensioners to always check documents before they sign anything as she fears losing her car.

Former teacher Ann White, 84, left the Skoda dealership on Canal Road, Bradford, three years ago with a new Citigo car after agreeing to a PCP deal of £104 a month.

She was 81-years-old at the time and claims she was sold the agreement after taking her old car into the garage for a service.

Mrs White now fears she could lose her car, and her independence, because she cannot afford the final £4,000 payment for the vehicle.

Making the payment would allow her to keep the car, but unless she can come to an understanding with Skoda, she will have to hand the vehicle back and get the bus to her weekly meetings with friends to play bridge and whist in Manningham and Bingley.

Bosses of the dealership have agreed to meet with Mrs White in the hope of reaching a "suitable conclusion" once they have given her some options.

“I need my car and I’m having nightmares about it,” said Mrs White, who lives in Apperley Bridge.

“When Skoda started talking about a £4,000 payment I didn’t know what they were talking about.

“If I haven’t got a car, my life is finished because there’s no way I can go around without one.

“There is a bus stop across the road to take me into Bradford and a bus stop near Greengates traffic lights that goes into Leeds.

“But Bingley is a different story because I have to get two buses.”

Mrs White accepts she signed the paperwork for the PCP agreement, but admits she “switched off” while everything was being explained to her.

She added: “If you are going to do something like this then make sure you have someone with you.”

Barbara Siddron, Mrs White’s friend and former neighbour, regularly checks her finances and noticed the former teacher is due to make the £4,000 payment in January.

The ordeal has given Mrs White sleepless nights and she worries about what will happen if she no longer has a car.

She added: “I lie in bed and think ‘what on earth am I going to do?

“I wish I had never got the car.”

Both Mrs Siddron and Andrew Tye, another of Mrs White’s neighbours who regularly checks up on her, criticised Skoda for selling the PCP agreement to her in the first place.

They claim Mrs White’s old car only had 22,000 miles on the clock and she did not need a brand new vehicle.

Mr Tye, who works in financial services, said: “This has caused her a lot of anxiety problems and she is not sleeping properly.

“We are not demanding that Mrs White ends up with a brand new Skoda, or demanding she gets this or that.

“We just want to keep her on the road and give her a level of independence.”

Angus Keith, director of D.M. Keith Ltd, which has the Skoda dealership in Bradford, has agreed to meet with Mrs White to discuss a way forward.

He said: “We have a meeting set up with Mrs White.

“We will give her some options and work with her to find a suitable conclusion.”