UK drivers should consider using winter tyres to avoid the crashes, gridlock and cost to the economy suffered last year by storms such as the ‘Beast from the East’.

One tyre maker, Davanti, says although still relatively small, demand has grown so quickly that it is adding 40 new sizes to its seasonal tyres, the Wintoura, Wintoura+, Wintoura SUV and Wintoura Van ranges.

Peter Cross, Davanti general manager, said: “The UK has not fully embraced winter tyres. Last winter the Beast from the East and Storm Emma combined to cost the UK economy £1 billion per day for a week before Christmas and disruption continued into January. A significant part of this was down to gridlocked roads caused by snowfall, flooding and road accidents or people being snowed into their homes and while the worst impact of these storms could not be avoided, the number of days lost to these events could have been significantly reduced had more drivers been running winter tyres.”

He said the Wintoura is purpose designed to cope with the weather: “The Wintoura range is designed to operate best in cold temperatures. Its advanced silica compound is formulated to not harden in sub-zero temperatures and optimised to perform at a lower peak operating temperature than a summer tyre. Add to that our carefully engineered tread pattern, featuring 3D sipes and both latitudinal and longitudinal channels to clear water and slush from the contact area and you have a tyre that is stable and reliable in very cold wintry conditions.”

Concluding, he added: “The most severe weather events at their worst stop everyone in their tracks. But the impact on drivers and businesses can be reduced by having the right tyres fitted to ensure roads can be safely driven in much worse conditions than a summer tyre could handle.”