Do you drive in snow and severe weather?

Rain is the least of it. Standing water on a motorway slows a whole carriageway and is more dangerous than anything else on this list; high winds close estuary bridges to high-sided traffic and back everything up behind them; fog reduces an efficient dual carriageway to a crawl. Snow makes the headlines, but flooding and wind close more roads in a typical British winter than snow ever does.

The practical consequence is that a familiar route can double in duration without anything dramatic having happened. When a warning is in place we build the day around that reality: an earlier collection, a route favouring treated trunk roads over pretty shortcuts, and a frank conversation about which appointments still make sense if the first leg takes twice as long as usual.

Your chauffeur will usually suggest leaving earlier and will check the route again shortly before setting out, because overnight conditions often bear no resemblance to the forecast. Speeds come down, following distances go up, and the driving becomes noticeably gentler. If you are working in the back, the difference you notice is that the car takes longer and feels calmer, which is exactly the intention.

Routing changes too. Gritted primary routes are preferred over country lanes even when the lane is shorter, exposed high ground is avoided where an alternative exists, and rural collections in upland areas may be moved to a meeting point that can actually be reached. Where that affects your pickup we agree the change with you rather than improvising it at the gate.

There is a point at which the professional answer is no. Heavy lying snow on untreated roads, a red warning from the Met Office, widespread flooding across the route, or police advice against non-essential travel all fall into that category. The risk then is not only to the car; it is being stranded somewhere with a passenger who needed to be elsewhere and now cannot get anywhere at all.

If we reach that view we will tell you early and explain why, and we will help you think about alternatives, including the possibility that the sensible move is to travel the day before or not at all. Any consequence for the booking is handled under the terms confirmed in writing when you booked, so the position is one you already know rather than one invented on the morning.

The most useful thing you can do is tell us early where the journey has to end and by when. A wedding at two o'clock and a flight at seven are different problems, and the second usually needs the whole day shifted rather than the departure nudged. Long winter journeys into Scotland, Wales or the North of England deserve considerably more slack than the same distance in June.

It also helps to be reachable. Keep the WhatsApp thread to hand on the morning of a difficult day, because a two-line exchange at half past five about whether the lane is passable saves an hour of guesswork for both of us. Where the forecast is genuinely poor we will often make contact the evening before to agree a plan while everyone is still warm and indoors.