YESTERDAY was likely to be the most dangerous day to be a company motorist in the UK this year, new research suggests.

The first working day after the one-hour time change from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time has become an accident blackspot.

Last year the number of fleet claims recorded by ARVAL PHH Accident Management rose by 110 per cent above the daily average after the clocks went back. In 1999, claims increased by 90 per cent from the October daily average - almost twice as many.

And accident replacement car specialist Enterprise Rent-A-Car recorded an increase in demand for replacement rental vehicles of nearly 30 per cent between October and November 2000, as a result of darkness falling earlier.

Jim Burrell, managing director of Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said: 'More accidents on the road mean more rental vehicles are needed as replacements.

'Figures show that the winter months provide the highest number of rental days, a significant increase that begins just after the clocks go back.'