A3 not starting... can anyone help?

[Hippogriff]

Hi all,

I wanted to move my girlfriend's car (A3, 54 reg., 1.6, Sport, Tiptronic) this morning - she's on hols - and tried to start it up but it failed :( and I got these lights...

http://www.hmusiccentre.org.uk/forumimages/DuffA3.jpg

Looks pretty bad to me... but I'm no expert. I can't find her A3 manual either. The engine tries to start, makes some noises and splutters out. Should I be worrying?

Or could it be something to do with the cold spell we've had recently - and its lack of use over the last few days? It's currently sitting on a slight incline, bonnet higher than boot.

I can confirm it started fine the other day... Saturday, and the day before that too. Oh, and she'd previously reported no problems with it.

[Hippogriff]

Had a brief interaction with my local tame friendly Audi person and I have been told that "the EPC light is basically the link from the accelerator to the engine and we would advise the vehicle is recovered" and to notice "that this is why the engine management light has come on".

Which all sounds like £s, as they would like £55 + VAT just to diagnose it.

Any forthcoming guidance from this forum I would probably be very grateful for. Recovery, diagnosis and rectification sounds like a lot - it's been working fine recently - and I'd be surprised that something so drastic could pop up its head out of the blue.