I had a puncture on Christmas morning and I asked the RAC on Boxing Day to fit the space-saver wheel onto my Fiat Panda. All local tyre firms were closed until Wednesday, and it then took three attempts to find a garage with the correct size in stock, as I was taking a friend to hospital for treatment that afternoon. I'm hoping this won't happen again, but wonder whether there is any sense in my buying a tyre of the appropriate size to keep in the shed/take on longer journeys with me just in case - or do tyres 'go off' like rubber bands?