Author name: Mark Haworth

Some time ago I bought my first car that came without a spare tyre, not even the token "pram wheel" that comes with some.

To be fair, it was one of the reasons I subsequently changed it since I felt uncomfortable given the amount of time I spent on the road. Sure, it came with one of those mini compressors and a bottle of "goo", but what the hell use would that be?

Wind the clock forward a couple of years, and while in Italy last week, the car we hired got a flat. What should come with it but the compressor / goo solution I knew was useless.

Well I have to take my words back, screw the goo bottle into the gadget, plug into the cigarette lighter, attach to tyre. Switch on, leave for seven minutes, and voilà' all done. You can't do more than 60mph, but it's good for 200km. Not sure it'd cope with a shredded tyre, but thankfully they're not too frequent.

Shan't let it concern me any more!

M.