Having received the renewal notice for my car insurance the other day I phoned Direct Line to tell them that I was planning to put winter tyres on my car. After consultation with more senior staff the boy who took my call phoned back to say that they would not cover me if I put the winter tyres on at the time I had indicated as "it could cause an accident, as it was too warm for them". I pointed out that motoring experts recommend the use of winter tyres once the temperature reaches 7 degrees and that the last few mornings in Edinburgh it had been 4 degrees and would be lower by mid-November but he would not budge.

I asked when Direct Line would consider it cold enough for winter tyres and he said January. I pointed out that last winter Edinburgh was covered in snow from the third week in November onwards and January could be too late. He had no response to this. I asked what Direct Line's customers were supposed to do to combine safe motoring in wintry conditions and compliance with the legal requirement to have car insurance, and how we would know when they considered the weather suitable for their use but he had no answer.

It is hopeless to leave it until after snow falls to put winter tyres on as for one thing garages will be inundated with people wanting this and it will take days to get an appointment plus there is the problem of actually getting to the garage for this work to be done with ordinary tyres in bad conditions. I would be most interested to know your reaction to this encounter and also whether you know an insurance company that takes a more sensible attitude to the use of winter tyres.