A BBC expert has said that people will face instant £2,500 fines and 3 points on their driving licence if they go on the roads in certain cars. Appearing on BBC Morning Live, presenter Louise Minchin said that 168,000 people are at risk of penalties.

The issue relates to a massive recall of Citroen cars. Ms Minchin explained that more than 168,000 motorists have been issued 'do not drive notices for their vehicles because of a potentially dangerous fault with the airbags'.

She said that many had been in touch to say they had faced lengthy delays in their cars being repaired - meaning they're without their primary transport for months if they follow the rule. The recall was issued in June and involved airbags made by a Japanese company called Takata, which Ms Minchin said has since gone bust. She added: "The reason those airbags have been recalled is it was found they can degrade over time, and if they're triggered, they can explode, sending metal into your car."

The BBC expert said the scale of the problem was 'huge' with 67 million airbags being recalled around the world. She said: "In the UK there are recall notices for Audi, Volkswagens, and Seats, but Stellantis, which is the owner of Citroen and DS, is the biggest affected, and they've actually issued what is called a stop drive order, which covers 168,000, as you said, C3 and DS3s are built between 2009 and 2019."

Ms Minchin said people face big fines and penalty points if they ignore the notice. She said: "If you have been issued with one of these stop drive orders, you must not drive your car until it's repaired. And if you do, you could actually face a fine of up to £2,500 you could get 3 points on your licence, or you could get a driving ban as well.

"You should know if you've been issued with one of these notices because you should have had a letter through the post, but also if you are at all worried, what you need to do is check on the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency website using your vehicle registration."

All UK drivers 'who ignore letter' face £2,500 fine and 3 points on licence