MOTORING: Parking is perilous for women

The belief among some men that women motorists are lousy parkers gains credence from figures published today, which show that female drivers have more accidents when parking or manoeuvring than men.

But the cost of these accidents is lower for women than men, the statistics from fleet management services company Velo reveal.

Based on almost 30,000 insurance claims, the figures reveal that hitting fixed objects account for 17.1 per cent of incidents involving female drivers, with the figure for male drivers being 13.6 per cent.

But these incidents involving men drivers cost an average of pounds 492 each, while those involving women cost pounds 478.

The average cost of repairs of vehicles belonging to men in all incidents is pounds 561, with the figure for women only just behind at pounds 559.

Men are twice as likely as women to have an accident involving no other party - such as losing control and leaving the road.

The figures also show that 42 per cent of all claims made by men are through accidents when they were at fault, while nearly 47 per cent of women's claims found them to be at fault.