Billion pound repair bill for parked car incidents
Monday, 7 July 2008 12:00 AM
Think your car is safe while parked? Think again!
New research has indicated that 700,000 motorists shunt, scrape or prang parked cars, leaving innocent drivers with an estimated repair bill of over a billion pounds.
Analysis of more than 100,000 accidents between 2006 and 2008 has revealed that around a fifth of all reported road incidents involve damage to a stationary, parked vehicle.
The cost of repair averaged out at £1,800, with 80 per cent of these Parked Car Incidents (PCIs) occurring on the street.
The other 20 per cent occurred in public car parks, incidentally.
London, naturally, topped the list of the 25 worst cities in Britain for PCIs, followed by Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester and Norwich.
Nearly a tenth of all parked car crashes were recorded in the nation's capital, resulting in annual bill of £119 million.
Glasgow, in second place, racked up a bill of 'just' £23.8 million.
Researchers believe contributory factors include increased congestion on residential streets and extra competition for car parking spaces.
