Dangerous driving conditions caused by snow led to UK customers bombarding car insurance firms with claims last week.
According to Sainsbury's Car Insurance, 45,000 separate claims relating to accidents were received last week, as Britain suffered its heaviest snowfalls for almost two decades. These claims are worth a collective £63 million.
When compared to the corresponding week in 2008, claims numbers were found to have risen by 45 percent.
Last Monday, southern England was carpeted by over 20cm of snow - knocking out transport infrastructure and causing over £1 billion of damage to the economy, according to analyst reports. There have also been reported shortages of road grit, due to excessive demand from local authorities attempting to make driving conditions safer for local residents.
Joanne Mallon, Sainsbury's Car Insurance manager, said: "Last week was one of the busiest weeks we can remember for car insurance claims. Drivers in this country aren't particularly familiar with driving in snow and ice and the conditions in many parts of the country were probably the worst many have experienced.
"If more severe weather arrives, we would advise people to only make essential journeys."
