"I bet you'll be more careful when doing any other w
Nah, it's a Creda, it's lasted about 10-12 (possibly more cos I don't actually know how old it is) years with only a replaced door hinge and new carbon brushes (and new fill hoses, but that's cos the mother's ex destroyed the old ones by wedging them behind the washer and they got crushed & split), it just keeps on truckin' with hardly any maintenance... 
I would prefer a Hotpoint Supermatic 9404 twintub though...
As for HT leads in cars, well, that's not 12 volts, that's a few thousand volts courtesy of the ignition coil pack, enough to jump the gap in the spark plug, and enough to hurl people about if they happen to "jump the gap" as it were... :S
