A Dovercourt motorist was left stunned when a Tesco car insurance quote for his old banger came back at £9,000 - 20 times the value of his vehicle.

Danny Richardson, a 46-year-old carpenter, was expecting a keen price to insure his eight-year-old Ford Mondeo estate after 30 years of driving without a single accident or so much as a speeding ticket.

However, he was staggered when the supermarket giant’s insurance branch quoted him am almighty £9,080 annual premium.

He said: “I thought they made a mistake and added a nought. I have been driving since I was 17 and never had a crash or any points on my licence.

“I bought an old Ford estate car for a few hundred quid to get me round for work - until now I have always had firms’ vans to drive.

“It seems the problem is that I have never had a no claims bonus because I have never had an insurance policy in my own name.

“I had expected to pay several hundred pounds but not several thousand.

“It is ridiculous to charge me almost £200 a week for insurance - I have worked out that is more than triple the weekly running costs.

“Even third party cover was going to cost me £8,000 with Tescos.

“In the end I did some shopping around and eventually got the car insured for £900, which was a lot more reasonable - and a tenth the price that Tesco quoted.”

A Tesco Bank spokeswoman said: “We are committed to offering customers the best prices possible, and we feel we price risk fairly.

“All insurance companies view risk differently, and as such, price insurance policies differently.

“It is a legitimate quote - the risk factors our underwriters use to assess customers are commercially sensitive so we cannot provide more detailed information in this instance.”