Keep your key in mind

Press, 5 December 1985, Page 66

Keep your key in mind

There was a time, and it was not so long ago, when fan belts and batteries, often suffering from terminal illnesses, finally gave up their respective ghosts on annual motoring holidays. Certainly, fan belts and batteries still put a dampener on summer holidays but, aacording to an Automobile Association chief service officer, absentmindness of drivers is one of the most common complaints with which his patrolmen have to deal these days. A surprisingly large number of holidaymakers spoil it all by misplacing their car keys. Unless one happens to be an accomplished car thief, a locked car is, at best, difficult to enter. Moreover, if it happens to be relatively new, it will be much more difficult to get mobile if there is not a key to turn on

the ignition and release the steering lock. People, of course, mis lay their keys at any time of the year; and the wiser ones insure against that circumstance by secreting a spare key somewhere about the car. It is usually carried in a small box and attached to an exterior undersurface by means of a magnet. It seems especially at holiday times that motorists frequently find themselves without a spare key, and that is when the trouble starts.

To guard against that situation, it makes sense to carry a spare key about one’s person, and as everyone knows, keys have an alarming habit of falling out of pockets. The safest place to carry that spare key is on a chain about one’s neck.

The sort of people who lose car keys are often the sort who, as travellers, need

all the protection they can get. In short, they are the people who should keep in good with the patron saint of travellers, St Christopher. It might make good sense to wear that key on the chain that carries the medal.

Although A.A. patrolmen are finding that more and more holidaymakers are losing their car keys, they are also finding that plenty of others are still having trouble with tired batteries, worn spare tyres and frayed fan belts.

A quick check of those items a week or so before your holiday could easily prevent a nightmare in the weeks ahead.

Just to make sure that those holiday memories are always sweet, don’t forget to place that spare key on your St Christopher medal chain.