Neighbours friend turned up on Saturday after approx. 100 mile journey. On Sunday evening the battery on their 57 VW Caravelle was completely flat. He said that he had accidently left side lights on.

Sunday evening I put my battery charger on it and immediately it took max 12 amps so we thought we would leave it overnight to gently charge. This morning I suspect the charger tripped out and did not put any charge into battery. Got voltmeter and measured 0V across the battery on no load. Disconnected Neg terminal from battery and still same reading.

Tried to charge just the battery with Neg terminal disconnected and battery charger went straight to 12A ( Max for battery charger and tripped out). Reset a few times but seems like battery was not taking charge. no load reading was still 0V.

Got a donor car and connected jump leads. with both cars off, the jump leads were getting hot, so removed after approx. 20 seconds. Measured no load voltage again, still 0V. donor car engine not running and ignition off.

Tried battery charger again, same result.

Measured resistance of between + and - leads with battery disconnected, 900K, so drain on battery from car is 13mA. Guess that might be clock so don't think this is the problem

To me the battery is cooked and needs replacement. Or have I missed something.

New battery is £83 so don't want to advise this if not required