Motoring numbers

14,653: The number of Citroen BXs still on British roads. Sounds impressive... until you realise 219,263 were sold between 1983 and 1993 - nearly 94 per cent have been scrapped.

5: How many days' warning police need that an abnormal lorry-load more than 4.3 metres wide is to pass through their area. Most other abnormal loads require only two days' notice.

494: Baffling number of pages in the Lexus GS450h owner's handbook - the huge volume has no less than 15 on checking and replacing fuses.

53: Year since Ford launched the Thunderbird name, which is now its longest-lived - beating Fiesta, Mustang, Cortina and Model T.