YOU wouldn’t send your child out in the rain without a coat on or a rugby player onto a muddy field without studded boots, so why would you send your drivers out in winter conditions wearing tyres that are designed for a warm summer’s day?

For many small businesses the bottom line is cost but, with the next big freeze expected as early as October this year, how much might the business downtime and potential accidents cost you?

With a majority of business vehicles easily getting through two sets of tyres in their lifetime, there is little reason for one of those sets not to be a dedicated cold weather set to use over the winter tyre period from October to March. If you plan in advance and get your order in before the big rush, there’s little reason that the tyres should cost you much more than the normal summer models you might purchase.

It’s a common misconception that winter tyres are all about snow. But this is just 15% of the benefit according to Continental, Europe’s leading supplier of winter tyres, who claim their winter tyres will reduce stopping distance from 30mph by up to 8 metres on a snowy road.

The biggest proportion of the benefit of winter tyres (45%) actually comes simply from the frequent British wet weather where the superior compound and tread patterns can take 4.8m off stopping distances in the rain.

The final advantage, representing 40% of the return on investment for winter tyres, simply comes in dry weather on a cold day – with stopping distances reduced by around 11m on icy roads from 20mph. Every time ambient temperatures falls below 7°C, you’re simply safer on a winter tyre.

The winter of 2009-10 was the coldest in over a decade with the heaviest snowfall in eighteen years. Mid-way through the season, on-line grocery retailer Ocado decided to makes the switch – becoming the only UK company to fit winter tyres to its entire delivery fleet.