Is your car winter prepared?

If there's one thing you can rely on with the Great British weather, it is it's unpredictability.

After being stuck for hours in the snow last year when we were hit by blizzards, I'm going to make sure we are better prepared this year.  Feeling totally helpless (not to mention freezing cold), we were stranded for hours on a snow covered road, behind jack-knifed lorries, miles from home.  In the end, we abandoned the car and took refuge overnight in a hotel.

So, here's my checklist to help keep us out of trouble this year:

• Make sure you have adequate breakdown cover and that the registered details are up-to-date (have you moved house or changed vehicles recently?)  Keep the telephone and policy number to hand in the car.

• Always carry your mobile phone and keep an in-car phone charger in your vehicle.

• Keep at least a quarter of a tank of fuel in case you encounter unexpected delays.

• Carry a sat-nav and road map to plan alternative routes.

• Get your vehicle serviced before the bad weather starts.  Check tyre tread; lights; battery and windscreen wipers.

• Carry a winter emergency kit: shovel; blanket; torch; tow rope; jump leads; de-icer and scraper; warning triangle; snacks.

• Ensure you are dressed for the weather - and all your passengers too.  Your child might be warm and cosy in the car with the heater on, but are they wearing suitable clothing if the heater stops or you have to leave your car and wait on the motorway verge for recovery?

Have I missed anything?  What do you do to prepare for journeys in bad weather?

Disclosure: Sponsored post.