When I was much younger my Mum always had some Bio Tex in the cupboard which is probably how I came to have some. I've got the spray version and it's been in my cupboard under the sink for so long I have no idea where we bought it or how much for so I've had a look and surprisingly it isn't found as easily as I expected it would be. It sells for about £2 for a 500ml spray bottle but you may or may not be able to get it in your local supermarket. Our Somerfield used to stock it but that has recently closed so keep your eyes peeled for this gem!

The spray version is a trigger bottle in a bright blue with Bio Tex across the front. This product does not contain bleach but should not be used on non-colourfast items. It cannot be used on silk, wool, leather or flame resistant fabrics and it states "it cannot be expected to remove impossible stains like paint, rust, dyes, etc". That made me chuckle a bit, impossible stains indeed!

I hadn't used this for ages until a while ago my partner came inside after tinkering with one of our cars with oil smeared across a white T-shirt and on his jeans. The jeans weren't such a worry as they are an old pair anyway but the white T-shirt he'd decided to wear to fix the car (what goes through men's heads sometimes?!) was brand new.

Rather than hand the T-shirt over to me to treat before washing he put it straight into the washing machine and washed it! I was thinking that was the end of the shirt and there was no way the stain would come out now so we resigned ourselves to his new shirt having to become a work shirt.

About a week later he got more oil on this shirt but this time left it with the rest of the washing so I decided to try Bio Tex spray on it and see what happened.

The instructions on the spray say to spray both sides of the stain, leave it a minute then wash as normal so I did that on both the new stains and the old ones. The spray smells of chemicals and can be a bit strong so if like me you are asthmatic keep your lungs away from it!

I popped the shirt into the washing machine and forgot about it. A couple of hours later I pulled the washing out and remembered I'd treated this shirt so I examined it closely and unbelievably not only had the new stains come out but so had the washed in ones too!

The shirt was gleaming white again without any hint of oil on it. I've since used it on a variety of my other half's clothes that he's worn when doing "car stuff" and it never fails to take the oil stains out whether they are old or fresh. It's brilliant!

I have tried Vanish products in the past too and can confirm they don't work as well as this Bio Tex spray. Even though I haven't used it on "impossible stains" it does remove the ones it claims to which are oil and fat based stains. So far it hasn't left behind any marks on the clothing either but if I used it on something coloured I would test a small inconspicuous area first.

I can't praise this highly enough, it's brilliant and works really well even if the item has already been washed. Highly recommended. The only problem is where to buy it but I imagine some of the large supermarkets would stock it. Excellent.