What Farage claimed, what police and mechanics reportedly said, and how the story was challenged.
In early January 2016, multiple UK outlets reported that Nigel Farage believed his car had been tampered with the previous autumn, causing a wheel to come off while he was driving in northern France. Farage told reporters the incident had happened near Dunkirk in October 2015 and said French police and mechanics thought foul play
was likely because wheel nuts on all four wheels were loose. (Guardian, 3 Jan 2016; Business Insider, 3 Jan 2016)
What Farage said at the time
Farage was quoted describing a frightening scene in which a wheel detached at motorway speed, forcing him to stop and scramble over a crash barrier to avoid oncoming traffic. He said the French police looked at it
and suggested one wheel might loosen naturally, but not on all four
—implying tampering. (Independent, 4 Jan 2016)
Some coverage framed the claim as an “assassination attempt” based on early reporting. (The Times, 4 Jan 2016) Farage later pushed back on that characterisation, saying he did not claim an assassination plot and regretted discussing the matter with journalists. (Belfast Telegraph, 8 Jan 2016)
Questions that emerged
Within days, media scrutiny raised alternative explanations. One Guardian piece noted that certain Volvo V70 models had previously been subject to recall notices related to wheel issues (though not all vehicles were affected), prompting debate about whether a defect could have played a role. (Guardian, 4 Jan 2016)
Volvo subsequently told the press that Farage’s car was not among those recalled, which undercut the recall hypothesis. (Guardian, 4 Jan 2016)
French garage owner’s account
Reporting in The Times quoted a French garage owner who said the problem was most likely the result of shoddy repair work rather than sabotage—specifically, wheel nuts not being torqued correctly after maintenance. (The Times, 7 Jan 2016)
Other write-ups emphasised that there was no formal investigation opened by French prosecutors into an assassination attempt, and no public evidence that police had concluded sabotage. (The Times, 3 Jan 2016; Guardian, 3 Jan 2016)
Farage’s later clarification
By the end of the week, Farage said he had made a terrible mistake
in speaking to the press and that a Sunday newspaper had misreported his words as an assassination claim. He acknowledged telling a reporter that the car might have been tampered with but denied alleging a plot to kill him. (The Times, 9 Jan 2016; AOL/Belfast Telegraph, 8 Jan 2016)
So, was it sabotage?
On the public record, the answer remains unproven. Farage’s initial account suggested tampering (loose nuts on all four wheels), but there was no publicly disclosed police conclusion confirming sabotage or opening a formal criminal case. Alternative explanations—from possible recall history (later discounted by Volvo) to poor maintenance—were reported within days. (Guardian, 4 Jan 2016; The Times, 7 Jan 2016)
Media summaries at the time captured the uncertainty: reports of foul play
based on Farage’s comments; counter-claims from a garage professional; and no official confirmation of a plot by authorities. In short: the claim was aired, questioned, and never substantiated. (Independent, 4 Jan 2016; Guardian, 3 Jan 2016)
Conclusion
The 2015–16 car incident became a fast-moving media story: Farage’s suggestion of tampering, a flurry of headlines, and rapid pushback from manufacturer and mechanic sources. Without a formal finding of sabotage, the fairest reading is that the allegation remains unverified, with plausible alternative explanations offered in contemporaneous reporting.
