FIESTA ZETEC TI-VCT 85 Clutch problem

Hi there, just registered here to try to obtain some information regarding this issue.

This is my son's car and it's now in the garage having the clutch plate replaced, the cost of which is £421 and the mechanic tells me that he has to take out the gearbox to replace this component.

Basically you couldn't put the car into first, second or reverse and the car raced away whenever we did manage to get it into some sort of gear (no idea which to be honest) the only way you could get it into gear was to switch the ignition off and attempt to force the gear lever into a gear and then switch on and it would sometimes start and drive but stopping at traffic lights then the car would stall and stop, really dangerous situation, I only managed to drive it about two miles from my son's flat to our local garage and that was a really stressful experience that I wouldn't want to repeat.

The car has only done 13,500 miles (due to Covid etc) and had its first service and MOT done back in February this year with no issues however my son has mentioned that he's had issues with gear changes since the car was bought particularly reverse gear but it drove fine most of the time although it hardly moved from our house in the whole of 2020 and 2021.

I'm waiting on the garage repairing the car to ask them if they have any idea why a clutch plate should fail within 13,500 miles or on a three and a half year old car but I'm beyond annoyed.

Can anyone tell me if this is 'normal' and does anyone know the warranty situation regarding a failed component such as this?

The ford warranty is three year I believe but wether they'll do anything about this situation I have no idea.

I do know that clutches are consumables but from what I've read the clutch should last between 60,000 & 100,000 miles. 

I've not had a clutch fail in over forty years of car ownership with multiple cars and makes so to say that I'm surprised is a massive understatement.

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestions.

Tony