I do a lot of miles for work and have had a couple of scares in the last five years.

Going down to work in the snow one day, roads got really icy, traffic stopped still in front of me. I braked and skidded, and it was either hit the car in front or off the road and into the hedge, so I chose the hedge. Just smashed one headlight but nothing else. That was in my Escort Diesel Estate.

And about 8 months ago had a blowout on the front at 60mph in my 325 BMW TDS. Ripped the tyre off the rim but I held onto it and stopped safely and surprisingly little damage. Lots of smoke and bits of melted rubber all over the car and had to get the AA out to get me to a tyre bay, but that's about it.

Had loads of little bumps and one writeoff when I first started driving, many moons ago.