MY Varia RTL 500 will not switch on after lockdown spent in my office drawer? Help please?

You're certain it's charged? Seems obvious but have to ask

I agree it could be battery. A solid red status light means that the battery is critically low or an error occurred while charging. Try plugging it into a USB wall charger and make sure you get a flashing green to indicate it's charging. Let it charge until the green light is solid. If you get a solid red light while charging then it either is overheating or the battery is somehow broken.

1. The issue is it won’t charge as the Red led is illuminated . I have registered an enquiry with Garmin 3 weeks ago but no response.. anyone had success calling or emailing them recently?

I would try to contact them again if I were you. With the chaos caused by the ransomware attack it's possible that your contact with them was missed. You're definitely better off calling vs other means of contact with Garmin support. I've always had good luck with calls but emails and other means of contact can be hit and miss. Keep in mind my experience is with US support so if you're in another country your experience might be different.

Have you tried a different cable?

anyone had success calling or emailing them recently?

Yes. Chat was within 2 minutes, Email took 6 days (normally it's less). 

Does anyone have a contact number in the UK? Emailed them 3 times now and no response .