If the key is not recognised the engine will not turn over.

Thank you for your reply.

I wait until all of the warning lights are extinguished before trying
to start the car(which has behaved very well since the incident
yesterday).   I did notice that the glow plug light was flashing as I
kept cranking the engine.
I took the key out of the ignition and left the car( to top up my
mobile phone so that I could contact the breakdown recovery service)
and when I returned the car started first time as usual.  The symptoms
are always the same, refusal to start, leave it for ten minutes and
then it seem to start without any problem.  The Ford dealership  are
not really interested apart from me spending money on servicing.

Does any of this make sense?

Kind regards

Rob.

Thanks Tim for your input.  I have tried alternating starting the car
using the spare key today and as usual the car starts without any
problem. Its been almost exactly a year since this problem occured and
always when It time for holiday trips on board a ferry.  I am anxious
that the car will let me down whilst I am waiting to leave the boat
and there are several irate motorists, lorry drivers etc desperate to
get onshore.  I am unsure if the problem is related to the immobiliser
as last year when the engine refused to start, neither key made any
difference.  The local garage engineer seemed to think the engine had
become flooded and did get it started by flooring the accelerator
pedal and cranking for about ten minutes.  I wonder if there is an
electronic glitch within the system that only seems to occur when the
temperature, humidity conditions are such that some system conditions
are not being met by the engine management system.

The local diesel engine specialists are not interested in looking at
the car until if fails completely so that they have some component to
diagnose and I imagine replace.

Many thanks for your interest.

Kind regards

Rob.