IT IS early in the morning, you are late for work, the car is iced up in one of the worst British winters for years, your de-icer spray splutters out its last drop, you have lost your scraper and it is time to improvise. Most drivers have been in this sort of predicament and it is amazing just what you can adapt to clear ice from the screen when pushed for time. Car value gurus Glass's Guide recently carried out a survey and it proved just how resourceful the British driver can be. Dipping into jacket pockets and handbags can produce a number of items that can be adapted to scrape ice in an emergency. Credit cards, CD cases, hair dryers and spades are just some of the items drivers have confessed to using to remove snow and ice from their cars during the recent blast of Arctic weather. An amazing 90 per cent of those asked admitted to using 'alternative' de-icing methods, and among them were some particularly strange tools, including an old vehicle licence plate, a hair dryer, the base of a computer monitor and a shovel. One in 10 said that they used either a credit card or a shopper's loyalty card to scrape ice off the car, while a similar proportion admitted to using a household broom. Another 23 per cent said that they relied on the car's own heating system to melt the snow and ice and pouring hot water onto the screen was a popular method despite the fact that that boiling water is a sure-fire way to crack the glass. I have to admit to being guilty to using a CD box when all else failed but maybe the strangest and most dangerous item adapted for defeating ice I witnessed some years ago. A van driver, obviously in a hurry had found a jagged piece of broken glass to scrape the screen and seemed oblivious to the fact that one slip could result in a lacerated hand. But this is what happens when the driver gets desperate. It's much less hassle to be prepared. | 
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