Regular readers will know that we spend quite a lot of time talking about annoying knocks and scrapes – and how to avoid them.

Well, I have to shamefacedly admit that our cherry red Transit now has an annoying scrape about eight feet long on its nearside after a momentary lapse of concentration by yours truly.

I was parked near a lamp-post in a busy street and when I pulled away, a black plastic rubbish bin, affixed to said post, caught the van and left a burn mark about half an inch wide right down its side.

I’ve so far tried T-Cut – which made no impression at all – and a colleague suggested dabbing it with tar remover, which I will try at the next spare opportunity.

Any other suggestions would be gratefully received (trevor.gelken@bauermedia.co.uk).

This annoying incident aside, the Transit is disporting itself with the utmost aplomb and has been called into active service on a number of occasions.

I’ve now got used to the driver’s seats, which I complained of in our first report as being too small, and I’m pleased to say that my fuel economy figure has crept up from 34 to 36.4mpg.

This is largely due, I think, to the fact that I’ve been doing some long haul stuff lately and of course as the miles pile on, the engine is loosening up more.

Whether I can maintain that figure on round-town trips remains to be seen. Now that our barbecue summer is about to start I’m also beginning to regret our decision not to order air-conditioning in our test van.

We felt that most drivers wouldn’t get it so we shouldn’t have it either but it’s amazing how you get used to such a little luxury – and miss it when you don’t have it.

Open windows are fine on short town trips but they just don’t suffice on motorway dashes.