BIZARRE tales of animals - dead and alive - turning up in company cars are among the grumbles of fleet managers contacted by Norwich Union. The insurance company asked fleet bosses to recount their worst experiences of company car drivers failing to look after their vehicles.

The most common problems were unpaid parking tickets, unexplained bumps and dents and poor servicing. However, bosses also told of a Saab 9000 which had been used on a farm and was returned full of hay with a decomposed rat and a banana skin in the footwell; a crash caused by a pet hamster spotted on the dashboard; and a neighbour's cat found alive under the car bonnet following a 100 mile drive.

A Norwich Union spokesman said company car drivers should clean up their act and look after their vehicles properly. He said: 'It's not unreasonable to expect an employee to treat a company car with a little respect. Of course many do, but others relish the fact that they don't have to worry about paying for what happens to their car and drive it into the ground.'