Four out of five motorists are giving left-hand drive lorries a wide berth for fear of being side-swiped according to a survey by Motorpoint.

David Shelton, Motorpoint MD said: “The seriousness of this issue for the driving public is reflected in the numbers who took part in the poll with some 5,500 drivers making their views known – that’s a rate of more than a thousand a day.”

It is estimated there are in excess of 10,000 heavy goods vehicles from mainland Europe driving on British roads every working day.