I ONCE road-tested a car which had a special gizmo linked to the gears.

Every time I changed gear and accelerated, a green bar appeared on the instrument panel which turned to red when the car decided I was in too low a gear.

It was the latest fuel-saving gimmick at the time and drove me completely nuts because I was far too busy watching this sliding scale to watch for other motorists.

Who would ever have thought that I’d have welcomed the thing back into my current car.

These are truly shocking times for motorists, so shocking that my wife and I were even discussing getting rid of my beloved gas-guzzler for something terribly sensible and cost-effective.

But the thought of these new fuel-efficient motors returning consumption figures more than two times better than my own is changing my attitude and that of many drivers.

Local drivers are already coming up with their ideas and on the radio the other day, I heard money saving expert Martin Lewis rattle off a whole list of ideas about how we can drive to cut costs.

These range from the way we drive, what we have in or on our car, where we buy our fuel to even the amount of air we have in our tyres.

It’s all common sense stuff, but we have to stop being angry and start getting smart as there appears to be no end in sight to the ridiculous price rises.

• It’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t have wheelie bins and who would honestly want to revert to the old days?

Certainly not the residents of Raleigh Road in Wallisdown who have found a very effective way of using them.