Winter Driving Tips

Now that we're coming into the winter months (when did we have a summer?) it's time to start preparing for the freezing mornings and pourin rain.

We'd like to offer you some advice for driving during the winter months that we hope will help you out should you get into trouble.

1. DON'T RUSH - You've got used to bone dry roads and that first hard frost catches out a lot of people, especially those that drive quickly round roundabouts and take corners properly. You only need to misjudge the level of ice on the roads and you could end up having to make a call to your insurance company or worse.

2. Defrost Your Car Properly - We're sorry but a 5cm hole to see out of just isn't enough. Defrost ALL the windows on your car including the side windows. Use a jug of warm water(not boiling) from the tap if possible, get a can of deicer and make sure you have a good ice sraper in the car for when the deicer runs out. Believe us, snapping your credit card because you haven't spent £2 on an ice scraper is more trouble than it's worth.

3. Keep Some Warm Clothes in the Car - Make sure you ALWAYS have a thick warm jumper in the car. Lob the jumper your nan gave you for Christmas in the boot with the rest of your junk and you'll be thanking yourself if you need it. You may look like a tit but you won't car if it keeps you warm.

4. Keep Your Phone Charged/Topped Up - Your phone can be your saviour if you've broken down miles from anywhere, make sure you have a car charger and always have plenty of credit if you're on Pay as You Go.

Some of these tips may seem like common sense but if you haven't done any of these we strongly suggest you take our advice. It's never going to be fun breaking down but it can be made less irritating with these tips.

Date - 15/09/2006