Much of the fraud is due to ‘crash for cash’ incidents, where criminal drivers deliberately cause a collision with an innocent driver to claim for damage to their car and whiplash. They do this by performing unnecessary emergency stops or flashing to let drivers out side roads and then driving into them.

The ABI says the record sum also shows fraudulent claims are now being detected in greater numbers while more people are reporting suspicious driving and fraudulent claims.

A spokesman for the ABI said: “We all pay for fraudsters who get away with false claims, which is why the insurance industry is spending £230m every year to tackle the problem.”