Don't Panic! I'm always reminded of "Dad's Army" when I hear that phrase.

Invariably, any alarm occurs when you are fast asleep, on the loo, in the shower, stark naked or otherwise totally unprepared.

The advice was largely aimed at those caught in fires in hotels and that's very valid. The last time that I actually had to evacuate was when I was staying in a hotel. It was 2 a.m. and I was asleep, clad only in my underpants. Woken by the alarm I slipped on my shorts and the hotel dressing gown, grabbed my wallet and joined the escapees. Luckily my room was only on the fourth floor and there was no sign of the fire, so I went down the emergency staircase with many others but without any panic. Out onto the cold street and milled around with everybody else waiting to find out what was going on.

The worst thing was I was barefoot and it was cold. After about half an hour we were allowed back into the hotel. Apparently the fire was in the kitchen of an adjoining Japanese restaurant and had been contained.

It was all orderly, but I was very glad that my room was not on one of the high floors (it was a 25 floor hotel).