Drivers across the country have been battling the cold snap in recent days, with icy roads and frosted over cars disrupting journeys and leaving vehicles stranded.
But one man has come up with an ingenious hack to stop ice forming on your windscreen in the first place – which won’t cost a thing.
Bricklayer Tristan Walton from Birmingham demonstrated his method in a TikTok captioned ‘quick de ice trick thank me later’.
The ‘2 second job’ involves putting a piece of cardboard over the windscreen the night before, which then gets covered with snow and ice leaving the windscreen underneath frost-free.
In the clip, Tristan peels back the cardboard to show a clear window, saving him time scraping it.
Other drivers were clearly interested in learning about the hack because the video racked up more than two million views.
Many were impressed with the results, with one user commenting that the trick was ‘proper clever’ and wouldn’t have occurred to them.
Others were more sceptical, with some pointing out that it would be a pain to remove the cardboard from the window if it got wet and froze onto it.
‘And when it rains… enjoy that slush of frozen cardboard stuck to your windscreen,’ said one.
Tristan defended his trick to one person who said the frost wasn’t too bad saying, ‘Well it worked, didn’t it? Saved 20 minutes scraping it.’
Meanwhile, others vouched for the technique, with one saying they had ‘been using this for 20 years’ and that it ‘never fails’.
Another said ‘just remembered I used to do this when I worked at McDonald’s!’
While pouring boiling water on a windscreen can be highly dangerous and lead it to cracking, warm water can be used to thaw ice in a clever way that requires nothing more than a plastic bag.
The ingenious idea involves simply filling a zip-up food bag with warm water and sliding it across the windscreen to melt the ice safely and quickly.
Posting on TikTok, a dad applauded his daughter for showing him the smart hack.
‘I can’t believe after 40 years of scraping I have learned this from my daughter,’ said Stuart Milanovitch.
He then demonstrates using a plastic zip bag filled with warm water on his iced-over windscreen.
The delighted motorist goes onto use the bag of water around the whole car, commenting how ‘easy’ the method is.
‘Get warm water out of the tap, place in a sealed bag and just wipe!’ he explains.
The frost melts rapidly with the low-effort method, allowing him to get behind the wheel in no time.
Another savvy British driver, called Daniel Harris, shared a video in 2019 the method, and it quickly went viral, amassing over two million views.
Alongside the video, Daniel wrote: ‘Hot water in a food bag and bam you’ve got a de icer and a hand warmer. Works a treat, and it’s fast!’
He went on to explain that he used warm tap water so he could safely hold it and lower the risk of cracking his windscreen.
‘The de-icer cans are so cold in the morning and this way it keeps you nice and toasty,’ he continued.
And for anyone that may doubt his trick, he added: ‘Oh and yes, it was ice, not condensation. I know it looks it but try it and you won’t be disappointed.’
A mum has also shared a ‘game-changing’ hack involving warm water and a household item.