JdS: Hello, I'm Jo de Silva and welcome to today's motoring show brought to you by Lloyds TSB Insurance. It's estimated that two and a half million of us will drive on the continent each year so today we're going to give you some advice on how to prepare for that journey and how to make sure that you're safe when you're at the other side. Now would you believe one in twenty of us are likely to be involved in an accident abroad and frighteningly a third of us are committing an offence before we even land on foreign soil. So with me today I have a man who should know a thing or two about motoring, he's probably driven more miles on the Continent than you and I will drive in the UK in a lifetime, it's Tiff Needell, presenter of Channel Five's ‘Fifth Gear' and fourteen times competitor of the Le Mans race, twenty four hour race should I say.

TN: Indeed. Finished half of them as well.

JdS: Nice to have you with us.

TN: Thank you.

JdS: And also we have Jon Woods with us. You're a Lloyds TSB motoring insurance advisor and you're going to give us some advice on what we should do if we do have an accident.

JW: That's right.

JdS: Great, excellent. Well Tiff, lots of people drive abroad every year. Is it as simple as getting in the car, fill up the tank and drive to Dover?

TN: Well, unfortunately as this research has unearthed, about one in three people think that is true – just jump in and off you go and there are no problems, but there are a lot of problems and as again, the research has found out and as you've said already, one in twenty are having accidents and it's not as simple as it looks like.

JdS: It is quite a frightening prospect then to be travelling abroad.

TN: It is.

JdS: So Jon, insurance, is it a necessity when you're abroad?

JW: It is very important and half of the people in the UK don't actually bother to check whether their policy covers them when driving abroad. At Lloyds TSB Insurance our policies provide 90 days free European cover but a lot of companies don't provide that cover so the best thing to do is get on the phone and speak to an insurer and they can tell you.

JdS: Great, excellent. But Tiff what kind of things do we have to think about before we do head off?

TN: It's planning really, I think, like anything in life we should plan. But the trouble is when we've got holidays we become impulsive and we just - it's so easy now to dive down the tunnel or go on a boat and you're there. I think you've sort of got to think what you're going to do and first of all you're going to drive in a totally strange environment; you're on the wrong side of the road or the right side of the road as it should be which always gives us all have a chuckle. So you've just got to plan ahead and get prepared. Don't just jump in a car and go.

JdS: Right so we're coming back to you, Jon, talking about insurance. Is it absolutely important that you carry your insurance documents with you when you're on your journey?

JW: Yes, it's very important. In some countries it's a legal requirement that you must have your insurance documents with you. Many countries say that you should really carry your insurance documents with you at all times abroad, along with your passport, your driving licence and your car registration document. That way if anything happens you've got all your information to hand and also you're covered legally as well.

JdS: And I've heard in some cases that you can get an instant fine if you're not carrying some of those documents.

JW: That's right, yes. Fines starting from about 60 Euros so it's not cheap either.

TN: But if you carry a radar detector they take it off you.

JdS: No they don't! Really?

TN: I'm not sure again, check it out but in France for sure, if they discover a radar detector, it's removed, thank you very much.

JdS: Wow, so you can land yourself with a hefty fine and confiscation of your property.

TN: Not that I'm ever speeding of course.

JdS: No. I wouldn't imagine that of you, Tiff, at all. And what about the G.B. stickers because quite a lot of cars we see on the road have those G.B. stickers, but I mean do we have to have them?

TN: It is the law, yes, you have to have recognition of what country when you go overseas. If you've got the Euro plate with the little stars and the G.B. in the middle that's okay. But if you haven't got that number plate you'll need the separate G.B. plates.

JdS: And a lot of the ferry companies give you them away, don't they, when you book your tickets.

TN: Yes, but don't rely on that. Again, I think people do rely on getting to the ferry and then sorting out all their problems. I mean I notice on the ferry car park when you're waiting to go on there's lots of shifty looking people around, flogging you triangles and spare bulbs which probably don't fit and don't work so no, don't rely on getting to the ferry before you get these things.

JdS: Because one of the things you're talking about is spare bulbs and we've got one of these packs here with one of those G.B. stickers on it. But in here we've also got headlight things …

TN: beam-benders.

JdS: beam-benders, is that what you call them?

TN: Theme-benders. If you try driving overseas you'll get flashed an awful lot at night if you've got your usual normal UK lights because of course when they lift up – even when they dip they're pointing the wrong way. So you need these little stickers, they're easy to fit. Every car manufacturer has got where you cut out for your headlamps or you can actually go in and have the proper job done. If you're going to go for a long time it's worth having the bulbs changed so you can actually have different bulbs, different headlights.

JdS: Right.

TN: Obviously, in some cars that's cheaper than others depending on the light fitting but it is better to get the real proper bulbs.

JdS: Right, we've got a question here from Mike and he says he's about to drive from London to Paris, then down to Spain. He says ‘Is there anything I need to know?'

TN: Throw away the radar detector! Get your insurance, get all your documentation first of all, that we've already covered. And then just think about what you're doing. Check that he knows roughly the route. Another confusing thing, a lot of the Continental countries, they have their own internal route numbers, like the A1. Then they have their Euro numbers so whereas on your map you may think you're going down the A5 the signposts all have E33 or something so you've got to get used to the two different numbering systems. Even worse I keep on remembering little hazards; when you go to like Belgium, there's two languages. So Liege suddenly becomes Luc or however you spell it so look at your towns you're going through, get the Continental spelling of the names so you know where you're going. Get all the documentation, check your car, we'll go into all that later. There's loads of tips. In fact later on in the show we're going to look at my top ten tips for when you do prepare your car for travel but planning, as we keep on saying, keep on thinking about the ridiculous things that you might come across that you're not prepared for.

JdS: Right, we've just had a question in from John and he says, ‘Are the rules really that different abroad than they are in the UK?'

TN: Not any more. With this European law now we do have pretty much the same road signs but again some of the road signs will have a foreign language on them so when we have ‘stop' it won't be ‘Stop', it'll be ‘halt' or whatever. The ‘halt' is quite simple but there are more complex ones than those so yeah, reading the foreign language can be a problem but even then – and this research has shown frighteningly enough, we don't even know our own road signs! Because in our own Highway Code there's one road sign, that one for ‘No entry for any vehicles', which is simply a red circle around a white centre. Only sixteen per cent of the UK drivers knew what that was and worse still, fifteen per cent of people thought it was a national speed limit sign so first of all go back to your own Highway Code and make sure you know the rules that apply in this country because most of them will apply when you get overseas.

JdS: I mean that's a really valid point because, the Highway Code, how often do people go back and look at that after you've passed your test? No tests for you later then.

TN: Breaking distances! Breaking distances! Will they be in metric? Feet, distances, oh, I'd be in right trouble!

JdS: Jon, another question for you; we've got a question and it's from Barry and he's in Cardiff. He says, ‘How old do you have to be to drive in Europe?' He's seventeen; he would like to go away with some friends in his car. Can he drive in Europe?

JW: It's wise to check the certain age because certain insurance companies do have certain exclusions depending on the cover that their policy extends to so best advice is ring up your insurance company beforehand, notify them of what you want to do and they'll tell you whether your policy covers you for it.

Right, another question here from John in Worthington and he says, ‘Do I need to notify my insurance company before I go?'

JW: Legally, you don't have to. I would advise that you should. Not only to make sure that your own policy covers you for driving abroad but also they can give you advice on the certain laws applying in each country. There are different laws about what you have to carry; for example we mentioned the documentation earlier. In England it's not a legal requirement to carry your insurance documents but in certain European countries it is so check that out before you go.

JdS: Now James from Bristol, he wants to know, ‘Can I take photocopies of my documents or do I need to take the originals with me?'

JW: Best to take the originals.

JdS: Great.

TN: I'm scared to lose them, that's the trouble. You take all these valuable things …

JdS: Well, take a photocopy and leave a photocopy at home.

TN: Oh yeah, that's a good idea.

JdS: That's what it's all about. So Tiff, you've driven abroad quite a lot. What kind of problems do people come across?

TN: I think mainly it's just not understanding junctions. Junctions are always the tricky thing. There's was this old thing in France, ‘priorité à la droit' which I think has disappeared now.

JdS: I remember that, yeah.

TN: But anything, if you were on a main road, a tractor could pull out from your right and they had the right of way, it was the most ludicrously dangerous thing, and they knew about it and the French farmers used to just pull out. But I think now obviously as we've said, road signs are pretty similar but of course, you approach a roundabout and it goes anti-clockwise instead of clockwise and it's just being prepared for that and not rushing into anything. It's a bit like when we're racing. You don't want to rush into a corner when you're learning a new racing circuit. You go slowly the first couple of laps until you get familiar with the corner and then you go faster through it so it's the same. You approach any junction, really slow yourself down. Talk to your passenger about it. Have a little debate, you know, ‘Where are we going?' so you agree what approach, ‘Yeah, it's the fourth exit, we're going out at two o'clock or four o'clock.' So a little bit of discussion will help in the car.

JdS: And I suppose there's no harm in actually stopping when you're at the junction just to make sure it's absolutely and you're clear on what you're going to do.

TN: As long as I'm not sitting behind you.

JdS: Ooh, I'll have to check in my rear view mirror.

TN: I think the worst thing is first thing in the morning, that is the worst time for accidents. When you leave a hotel car park and it's just a single carriageway road. That's when you really have to switch the brain on and if you're a passenger, wake your driver up, say, ‘Now remember we're on the wrong side of the road or the right side of the road' because you can just drive out of the car park, turn left on the left hand side of as you've done the rest of your life and you turn straight into an articulated lorry and that is the most dangerous time so first time as you go out on the road … another one, I keep on remembering more hazards.

JdS: Go on.

TN: Country lanes with no centre marking and when it's only just about only two cars width, you drive down the middle of the road, driving down a lovely country road and of course, if you see something coming the other way you're natural thing is to brake and move to the left because that's what you do.

JdS: Yes, because that's what's ingrained in your head, isn't it.

TN: We've got no road markings and that again can be incredibly dangerous when you lose that centre line so you're just sitting in a country lane so you've got to think all the time, ‘If someone comes along, I've got to brake to the right'. So that's thinking, talking to your passenger, keeping thinking.

JdS: I mean on that subject, I've done that myself driving in France. The road has been absolutely clear, I come to a junction and I turn out and frighteningly, for a split second find myself on the wrong side of the road.

TN: Yeah, we've all done it.

JdS: Any wee pointers on how we can …?

TN: No, just that you've got to wait and with passengers, I think if you're passengering, keep talking to your driver. They'll remember. Just joke about it and say, ‘Ooh remember' and they'll say, ‘Oh, I know what I'm doing!' but just in case. Male pride wouldn't admit he didn't know until you just reminded him but …

JdS: It's worth doing it.

TN: Yeah.

JdS: We've had another question from John and he's said, ‘What is the worst thing that's happened to you when you've been driving on the Continent?'

TN: Well, luckily, touch wood, only the gendarmes arresting me for not having my G.B. plate on the back which. One thing about G.B.s, they love catching you at the customs posts where there's a nice little shop that they can just guide you into and relieve you of some fund. And cash, again, if you do speed, which I never would but apparently if some people go too fast on auto-routes, if you get stopped, if you haven't got cash on you up to about £100 worth you end up getting frog-marched up to the nearest town where they will take you to the cash machine or to the police station so there can be huge delays so just in case you accidentally go a little bit fast have cash on you to make sure you can pay fines because they're sharp out there and you've just got to obey their rules as much as you do in our country.

JdS: When in Rome and all that kind of thing. Jon what about you?

JW: Ah well, I have vivid memories of family holidays as a kid, year after year in France, my parents loved France and driving through Paris with a caravan on the back and my father going down a one-way street, very narrow and faced with a long line of angry Frenchmen and we couldn't reverse and we couldn't turn around so the whole stream of them had to reverse back out of the alley and lots of swearing but all in French so we couldn't quite make it out fortunately, but it sticks in my mind, yeah!

JdS: And Graham's asked is it true that the Italians are the worst drivers in Europe?

TN: I think they're the best, they get on with it. It's funny, the French used to have this awful reputation, now they're the most timid, stop-starty … you know, it's bizarre how the world changes. The Italians are lovely, they just get on with it, they wave their hands about, I like ‘em doing that!

JdS: They just get on, do they?

TN: Yeah, it's wonderful.

JdS: Well, there are clearly many things you need to do to prepare for driving abroad. so here we have them, Tiff's Top Tips.

TN: Under the bonnet there are all the usual checks to be done. The oil level, the water level, fill up your windscreen washer reservoir, check the brake fluid level, also make sure the battery connections are tight. Don't forget to look at all your tyres, look at the treads. Make sure there are no cuts and make sure you've got plenty of tread depth. Also of course, check the pressures. Make sure you've got loaded on board vital equipment like fire extinguishers, the jack and make sure that the handle is with it and the warning triangle which is regulation in most European countries. Take with you a first aid kit. Also a torch, so you can see what you're doing in the dark. And never forget to check the spare wheel. So often you'll get it out and find it's flat just when you need it. Again look at the tread and check the pressure.

Of course you must make sure you've got all the right documentation starting with your driving licence and if you've got one of those photo-cards don't forget the paper that goes with it. You'll need your passport, the MOT certificate, the vehicle registration document and of course, your insurance details. Other handy things to have with you are a guide to driving abroad, a decent road map that covers your route and water, not only for the driver but for the passengers and perhaps in an emergency,

even for the car itself. If you have to wear glasses to drive, Spain insists that you have a spare pair in the car. You can't just rely on the ones on your nose and to keep you relaxed when the sun shines take a pair of shades with you.

Obviously, check all your electrics are working like the lights and the indicators. The special check, in case you haven't used it for a while, is to make sure that the rear screen heater is working. The hazard lights, the wipers and of course, the washers.

JdS: Nice place, Tiff.

TN: Well, you've got to have a bit of style, haven't you. It wasn't my car. Wasn't that known? Borrowed car.

JdS: Now these are some of the bits and pieces that you spoke about and I'm going to go into those in a little bit more detail. This book, ‘Driving Abroad', now that seems to be something that would be pretty handy to have.

TN: Well, that's got the alternative road signs and bits and pieces as well as you know, all the hazards on the roads. It's a really good book. And I think the more you read these sorts of things, like any travel guide – I mean you enjoy Rome more if you've read the guide to Rome and you would enjoy driving abroad more if you read the guide to driving abroad. It makes you more relaxed and I think that knowledge is just so important to put you in the right frame of mind.

JdS: I suppose from a safety point of view the more that you know, the more confident you feel on the roads anyway.

TN: Yeah.

JdS: So from that point of view in terms of maps as well because there are so many different kinds of maps that are available to us now when we're off driving abroad.

TN: And sat-nav now, you've got to go and check you've got your European sat-nav, it's UK and Europe, it's amazing how much they get on one little disk. It's fantastic sat-nav.

JdS: So do most satellite systems have the disk for Europe as well?

TN: Nowadays it's growing more and more one disk for the whole of Europe. It's got every little street, it's incredible. But still I always think take the map. I think again it's being aware of where you are in a road. Instead of just getting a bit sort of zoned in on your sat-nav and then when something sort of slightly goes wrong or there's a diversion you don't know where on earth you are so try and look at the good old-fashioned map and sense where you're going. Then you can have detours and have little tour of another town whereas sat-nav might just take you a boring route.

JdS: Straight through and I suppose the other case is that sat-nav breaks down.

TN: No, I couldn't say that!

JdS: Now you mentioned a first aid kit, obviously an important part of your kit for driving abroad and we have the nice fluorescent jacket.

TN: And there's all your health and safety. Well, this is the most important one. The good old triangle. Now this should be I think a legal requirement in the UK. I mean they're brilliant things. I was actually saved from an accident once because in the UK someone ran an icy bend who'd had an accident and put one of these out fifty yards before the bend and I came rushing along and slowed down.

JdS: So at least you knew what was happening ahead of you.

TN: Yeah, they really are brilliant. I mean you've got to put it fifty or a hundred yards before where you've broken down but make sure you have one of those. Torches, I mean simple things like a torch. I remember trying to put on some of those awful chains for ice without a torch in the car and it was dark and you're trying to read the instructions - oh nightmare so –

JdS: Impossible.

TN: of course chains, that's what we haven't got. We're summery at the moment but winters come so very important to make sure you've got the right tyres and chains if you're going off skiing holidays and that sort of thing.

JdS: And of course, you've got to also take the normal bits and pieces that you would have, you know, for example, for changing your spare tyre and your jack and …

TN: Yep, check that's in the car. Again, a lot of second hand cars get bought and sold, the jack's not there. In fact you don't know you haven't got a jack until you've got a flat tyre. So check the jack's there and check the windy-windy bit to wind it up with.

JdS: Okay, we've just had a question from Natalie in Bath. Jon, Natalie wants to know, if she does have an accident when she's driving abroad what should she do.

JW: Well, she should contact her insurer immediately and advise them of the accident and they'll be able to give her help over the phone, tell her what to do. She can tell them what country she's in. They can tell her about any particular laws that apply that may be different to what she may be aware of. It's also advisable to take out European breakdown insurance before you go abroad. Our policies provide Green Flag breakdown cover as an optional add-on and most insurance companies will be able to help you with that as well.

JdS: So there must be a really good point though to have some sort of accident cover when you're away because, I guess in most cases your insurance will cover your car but it's not going to cover you to get back home.

JW: No, exactly and in a foreign country it's even more important than if you're over here, you maybe don't know the language, so if you've got breakdown cover they can take care of your breakdown rather than you being completely stranded without any help.

JdS: Now Sarah wants to know, ‘Are men involved in more accidents than women?' Ooh, am I going to get a real answer from both of you boys?

TN: Tell us, what does the research say?

JW: Well, the research says yes, men are involved in more accidents …

JdS: Oooh!

JW: but then there are more male drivers on the road.

JdS: What about proportionally though?

JW: I don't know that.

TN: Good, good. We don't want to know that.

JdS: Or maybe you're just not going to tell us, that's what it is.

TN: It's not a thing between the sexes, driving. Women drivers are good drivers, so are men, we don't want any of this.

JdS: Yes! Okay, well Henry from Durham wants to know, ‘Are the road signs any different in Europe than here?'

TN: Just a little bit. Just remember to revise all those signs that you've forgotten because you panic overseas because you'll probably see a sign overseas and you'll think ‘Oh that's a foreign sign, I don't know that one', when it's in the UK as well because some of them just aren't that often used but the other ones ‘douane' for customs and tolls and auto-routes and a few language things basically the same signs.

JdS: So what are the most common signs that we're going to come up against when we are driving abroad?

TN: Just the normal speed limit ones which of course you have to remember in kilometres an hour and not miles an hour. And that's very tempting when you see 160 or something but no, that's kilometres so remember they're in kilometres otherwise it's just the same sort of giveaways as we have in the UK it's only the odd one that'll catch you out and again that's probably because you don't know that's in the UK either.

JdS: So what you're saying is Highway Code again, just keep checking the Highway Code.

TN: Indeed.

JdS: Become really familiar with all the road signs so that you're not bamboozled and it's a sign that you should know anyway and across Europe they're pretty much standard now.

TN: Indeed and that's the trouble when you go to Europe and you start panicking, because you think something's special where it's not.

JdS: But Tiff, there's a couple of these signs that I'm not overly familiar with. For example this one here.

TN: Yes, it's the same as the UK, it's just that it's an intersection, it's just to warn you of a crossing up ahead.

JdS: Right, okay and that one there. It says ‘Halte, peage'.

TN: Ah, that's where you need a bit of French. Oh, ‘peage'. ‘peage' means ‘pay'. That's the toll booths that's coming up so you have to stop at the toll booths.

JdS: Okay, I've got you now and what about this one?

TN: Yeah, this is one of those road signs we were talking about where that's the European road sign so the confusion is sometimes you might have the national road sign like we have A5 and A1 and M1 but they suddenly become the E33 which is the A5 but that's your European number. Especially when you go across to Belgium, Holland, France and Germany you'll see those. So sometimes you've got to remember you're on two different road numbering systems and that can get confusing. Know both numbers is what counts.

JdS: Okay, that's what counts, good. Well listen, you can still send us in your questions. It's dead simple to do. Press on the button on the bottom of the box. Give us your name, tell us where you come from, give us your question and press the send button. It comes straight into here, in the studio and we can pose those questions to both Jon and Tiff. But I mean, Tiff, it is quite a daunting prospect to be driving on the Continent. We've talked about the fact that you need to be well prepared. You need to have literally all the bits and pieces we talked about earlier.

TN: Yes.

JdS: You need to have your documentation. You need to be well briefed in your head. I mean what other kinds of things do we need to remember when we're out there?

TN: A sober brain I think.

JdS: Oh, now that's a good point actually.

TN: Amazing thing, ‘I'm on holiday and I'll have one of those little beers and I'll be alright' but those little beers might be double the strength than the little beers at home. We can get caught out like that. In the Utrecht and I think in Germany as well, the motorway service stations have bottles of wine and taps of beer, you can just fill up a pint if you want to. Whereas in England we don't have that, we're not allowed to have alcohol sold on motorways so trying to resist that temptation for the odd drink even though you're on holiday – clear head basically and keep thinking and get your passenger to keep thinking.

JdS: And are the drink-driving laws the same in the UK as abroad?

TN: They're mainly tighter. Again, it varies for all countries but most of them now have a lower tolerance level. I think Scandinavia it's virtually zero, in Norway I think. You have to go right back down to virtually nothing so again, check the law out or better still, just don't drink and drive. The usual message counts.

JdS: And Jon, can you just sum up for me again, what are the most important things you need to remember when you are heading off in terms of documentation?

JW: Well, first of all, before you travel, check with your insurer to make sure your policy covers you for driving abroad. If it doesn't you will have to extend your policy. Make sure you take with you your insurance documentation, your driving licence, your car registration document and also keep your passport with you as well because you'll often need that as well. Pretty much that's all the documentation that you'll need. As I say if in any doubt whatsoever about the laws in the country you're travelling to or what your policy covers then talk to your insurance company before you go.

JdS: Because Lloyds TSB Insurance have produced a wee guide, haven't they.

JW: Yes, that's right. A guide to summer driving.

JdS: Could you tell us some more about that.

JW: Yes, it just helps with a lot of handy hints and tips. A lot of what we've talked about today, how to be prepared, how to avoid the problems that can happen while you're abroad. It's the ‘Lloyds TSB Insurance Guide to Summer Driving' and you can download it at www.podmaster.co.uk or we're sponsoring the British International Motorshow which is on at the Excel centre, which is on from the 20th to the 30th of July and you can come to our stand and pick up a guide. It's completely free.

JdS: And podmaster as well, you can download that podcast as well, can't you and that's got a lot of information.

JW: That's right, yes, it's got all the information contained in the guide, a lot of what we've talked about today and yes, just go onto podmaster.co.uk and download it.

JdS: So www.insurance.co.uk and www.podmaster.co.uk.

JW: yes.

JdS: That's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it.

JW: It is, insurance.co.uk is the Lloyds TSB Insurance car insurance website so lots of information there and podmaster is where you get the download of all of the summer driving guide.

JdS: Great, and Tiff, I mean a final wrap up, just to recap. What are the most important things that you need to remember when you are driving?

TN: Your brain.

JdS: Don't forget your brain.

TN: A sober, alert brain for yourself and your passengers. Just be logical, slow down when approaching junctions. Just have a nice, gentle approach, you're on holiday. Don't try and rush off on those foreign roads because they'll catch you out.