Dave Plowman wrote:

R D S wrote:

Ice and frozen snow on the screen, snapped my scraper jabbing away at
it, so I poured some tepid water on it and hit the wipers upon which the
blades promptly tore from the arms.

Rule one. Always check the blades ain't stuck to the screen before
switching on. You can check this by lifting them off the screen against
the springs while scraping etc the ice off.

Rule two. Always check the automatic windscreen wiper setting is off
before turning on the ignition, or the sensor may interpret scraping the
windscreen or pouring tepid water on the windscreen/blades as "rain".