Cheers Greg, I did suspect something of that kind.
The customer set it to a number 7 ‘special’ wash whilst I was there and although it seemed to fill OK I could not see any water coming into the drawer. I got the loud gushing noise you often get from a solenoid valve with a damaged diaphragm.
Thanks for that. I asked her to run it through a programme with the fabric conditioner syphon removed and she has just phoned back to say there is no water in the compartment. New valve it is then. 8)