Doubtless, many a modern motorist won't check the pressures if the tyre pressure monitoring system doesn't inform them of anything being amiss.

I agree, to my mind it's ridiculous that the owner has never checked the tyre pressures in 6 months ... I suppose the S3 will have TPMS on board but you'd think it would flag up overpressurisation as well as under?

Mind you, PDIs do seem to be lacking these days. When I collected my Mondeo IV in 2008, the dealer had not actually fitted the front retaining bolts to the passenger seat runners, so the seat wasn't properly (or safely) fixed into the car, as I found out when my son jumped in the car to have a drive with me. I got a free first service out of that.

I must admit that I agree with Rob and Craig. I check the vitals on a regular basis. Oil, Water, Brake fluid and tyre pressures. Old habits. My first company car was regularly inspected. We had our own transport fleet and our own vehicle inspectors(this is early 1970's). You would get a telephone call one evening requesting that you and your vehicle meet the roving engineer for an inspection. Woe betide you if the vehicle wasn't up to snuff. It was even in our employment terms that we checked the vitals on our company vehicles at least weekly. It paid off for me on one occasion. I met the vehicle inspector one such morning. I explained that the car (Escort 1100 petrol) had only been serviced two days previously. After the inspection he looked worried. He asked where it was serviced and telephoned them. Within the hour they arrived with a tow truck and took my newish car away. He said I was a very lucky man and had probably avoided a serious accident by his intervention. Something to do with the brakes was all I could get from him. However, he took me over to the offending garage and we went into the managers office and the owner was present. The inspector then proceeded to give the biggest reaming out I have ever witnessed. He demanded a replacement car for me and immediate action to rectify my car and the possibilty that they could be prosecuted. I got the managers Ford Granada for nearly 10 days. Whoopee. Needless to say I put it to some use. Especially in the courting stakes. I was told that I may have found the problem at my weekly check, but until then the car was a potential death trap. I was always treated like a lord thereafter at service times. I now also check the vitals on collection from service before leaving the garage.

Cheers Concrete

It's hard to believe someone would not check their tyres for so long. What chance they checked their oil or filled the washer bottle?

The impression I get is this is inceasingly the way with the next genneration of drivers. Dipsticks disappearing, TPMS, canbus lights; if there's no 'icon' on the dash, there is no problem. It's us old fuddy-duddies that drove s***boxes as youngsters and had dads and uncles who tinkered with their cars continually that still check things routinely. Paranoid, us? Probably!