Driving 38 years and 2 punctures that I have had to change at the roadside. Had another 2 where a tyre was flat in the morning. One of our cars has a space saver, one run flats and the other no spare at all. Having a space saver is not an issue for me.

Absolutely nothing wrong with full diameter space savers.

In the wet the other three chav wheels will lose grip before the pram wheel does.

Only when you throw it away with the bath water...

Good point. In the Skoda's case it would fit into the space but the boot floor wouldn't go down fully - so one would just about manage (I didn't have a full load so it just sat in the boot).

But it could be an issue for other cars where the full-size wheel won't fit at all. Maybe if travelling with a full load of passengers and luggage one should take ropes or an 'octopus' to strap the wheel on the roof - again, no good if you don't have a car with roof rails.

We went on holiday last week in SWMBO's Mini Cooper Roadster - it's a 2-seater with a much better boot than a normal Mini, but we filled it with luggage. I must see if the handbook has anything on this: I think if we'd had a puncture the wheel might just have gone in the space behind the seats if not in the spacesaver's cradle.