I’m a huge fan of all-season tyres. For the majority of UK motorists, switching between summer and winter tyres twice a year just isn’t worthwhile.

Despite this, the traffic chaos that results from even the tiniest amount of snow proves that as a nation, we do have a traction problem when frozen water is involved.

I have all-season tyres fitted to both the vehicles in my household (one van and one car) and they’ve proved their worth more than once in winter conditions, providing grip while cars with summer tyres were visibly sliding around.

I’m certain they prevented at least one crash last winter. At the same time, they perform well in summer.

However, for reasons I cannot understand, all-season tyres are not widely available in the UK. Mainstream tyre retailers like Kwik-Fit only seem to offer summer and winter tyres. I think it’s a marketing thing — I was once told by a Goodyear PR person that they were not interested in selling their all-season tyres in the UK. (I buy mine through mytyres.co.uk, which is a German company shipping to fitting centres in the UK. All-season tyres are widely sold in Europe.)

Luckily, this short-sighted approach is starting to change. Earlier this year, Michelin launched the CrossClimate, a new type of all-season tyre that has received rave reviews and proved to be the equal of both winter and summer tyres in the highly-regarded German TUV and DEKRA tests.

The main difference between the CrossClimate and other all-season tyres is said to be that the CrossClimate is a summer tyre adapated to work in winter, whereas most all-season tyres are winter tyres adapted to work in summer. This means they often work less well in summer than in winter. My experience chimes with this, although the difference is slight, in my view.

However, perhaps the biggest difference is that Michelin has got its act together and is actively marketing the CrossClimate in the UK, to both fleet and retailer buyers.

Michelin’s latest big win is a deal to fit the CrossClimate to 13,000 British Gas vans. The tyres will be fitted as original equipment where possible and aftermarket needs will be taken care of by ATS Euromaster, which has previously described the CrossClimate as a “true game-changer” for the UK fleet sector.

The CrossClimate tyre is currently available in 23 dimensions, covering 76% of all car and car-derived van tyres in sizes from 15 to 17 inches, with Michelin to launch additional sizes next year.

I assume this means that the CrossClimate will be fitted to British Gas’s VW Caddy and similar vans, but not to larger models like the Transit and VW Transporter, as these would require larger, commercial-rated tyres.

Like all good all-season tyres and winter tyres, the CrossClimate carries the Three Peak Mountain Snow Flake (3PMSF) approval symbol, which means it is approved for use in countries where winter tyre use is a legal requirement at certain times of year.

Michelin appears to have raised the bar in the all-season tyre market and almost single-handedly introduced this type of tyre to the UK market. This is good news for motorists, and it will be interesting now to see how other manufacturers respond.