An expense of Continental proportions....

My wife's wee car has had a slow puncture for a few months now and I've just kept topping up the air - more and more regularly. Tried the useless Ford Emergency Inflation Kit - a cheapo cost saving exercise for them so you have to go out and buy a proper spare. (More dosh/profits for their shareholders by not giving you what they really ought to have in the first place).

Yesterday it was flat again so this morning I went to the happy, friendly, joke a minute, cheerful tyre people down the road to get a new Continental tyre. "No problem Sir, £91". "Wet the bed", I thought out loud and paid up.

Now as the old tyre only had 9000 miles on it and loads of nice fresh tread I thought I'd buy a steel rim (but not from my moronic Ford dealer, decent cars, shame about some of the staff) and get the old tyre plugged and keep it in the boot. Problems. The not so helpful tyre people wouldn't handle the tyre without more dosh because it had tyre solution in it. I offered to wash it out if they'd show me the tap. "No Way", they said, with out a smile.

I suspected someone may have already earmarked my 'good as new' tyre for his own Ford and was not wanting to be too helpful. Hmmm??? A possibility. So I asked for a bin bag and brought it home.

Great start to the day :- Tyre 195/45/R16 - £68.37
Valve £ 1.80
Wheel balance £ 4.78
Nitro Air Fill £ 0.85

VAT £15.16