Young drivers 'can't fit a spare wheel'

AS MANY as 11 out of 20 young people in the 18-24 age bracket admit to not knowing how to change a car tyre, according to a new survey.

The data, released by IntelligentCarLeasing.com, will stoke the flames of animosity among older drivers by indicating that the majority of young drivers are operating without basic practical motoring skills.

Young men are more confident that they know how to install a spare, with 57.1% claimed they could do so. Female survey respondents were less sure, with only 34% asserting their confidence.

IntelligentCarLeasing says that young people cite breakdown cover within their insurance policy as one reason why they have never learned how to fit a spare wheel. Other reasons given by the young drivers include that changing a tyre isn’t a requirement for passing the test, so they’ve never bothered to learn how.

Shockingly, the third reason reportedly offered is that ‘most cars have run-flat tyres anyway’, which, unfortunately for many young drivers, is not true. Very few small cars have run-flat rubber.

According to the firm that commissioned the survey, the gender gap could be explained by a number of different possibilities, including that men are more likely to take pride in being able to complete mechanical tasks – or being too embarrassed to admit that they can’t.

By Press Association reporter