Your car is at the exact stage in its life where the electric fuel pump is likely to have died. These pumps have finite lifespans and when they die they just die; no warning, no other symptoms other than an engine that will crank but won’t start.

You might be able to diagnose this by turning the key to the ignition-on position (without cranking the engine) to see if you can hear a faint whirring from the area near the fuel tank. If you can, that’s probably the pump working, at which point you might have a different problem. But if you can’t hear anything, then the fuel pump emerges as an even stronger contender as the cause.

If that doesn’t check out, then a trip to any decent workshop should be your next move. There’s not much on a 2010 Fiesta that should scare a good mechanic. And a fuel pump is simple and relatively cheap to replace.

The broad rule is that if the indicator light is a yellow or orange one (check-engine light, low-fuel warning) you should be okay to get the car to a mechanic to have it scanned to see what the problem is. Or to get it to the nearest service-station to put more petrol in it.

But, if the light is a red one (temperature, oil pressure, charging system etc) then you need to stop driving the car right now or risk doing further, permanent damage to it. Pull over somewhere safe and call the cavalry. Continuing to drive with a red warning light on the dashboard is almost a guarantee to damage or destroy something expensive, including the engine.

Unfortunately, it sounds like you have one of the dreaded Powershift dual-clutch transmissions in your car. If that's the case, then this type of transmission behaviour is all too common and, we're sorry to tell you, is a sign that the gearbox is about to die.

Ford was hauled over the coals by the ACCC back in 2017 for 'unconscionable behaviour' regarding this transmission and its approach to dealing with consumer complaints about it. We'd be talking to Ford Australia's customer service department as it will have a standard procedure now for dealing with such problems.

All that said, your car is well and truly out of warranty now, but Ford knew years ago that it had a major problem with this transmission, so it's worth asking about compensation or help with repairs. The other piece of advice is to not sink too much money into the car, as the trade and consumers know it's a ticking time bomb and, as a result, this model is worth very little as a trade-in.