Hi Peter and thanks. That's really helpful, I'll have the battery checked as I say, I have no idea of it's age, probably same as the car, i.e. 11 years, or maybe it is due another change. I have the service record, but that doesn't give details, only that independents started to look after it 5 years ago. Don't know if that's good or bad. I only go long distance once every 2 months or so and that usually entails hitting heavy traffic (funnily enough often around the M6, I was caught up after the lorry fire there last week), so it is not normally a problem., Regards Christopher