Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA), of West Malling, Kent, has received support from across the fleet and insurance industries for highlighting the issue of excessive highway repair bills.

If you damage Crown property, for instance, by striking a motorway barrier, hitting a traffic sign or damaging a road surface, a fleet or its insurer will be presented with a bill, usually from a council, Highways England, Transport for London or one of their contractors.

In May, CMA issued a statement advising motorists and businesses to engage a specialist to scrutinise these invoices,

Philip Swift, managing director of CMA, said: “Over the past few weeks we have been contacted by numerous insurance and motor trade companies, notably fleet operators, reporting similar experiences with certain Highways England contractors.

"They share our concerns about the lack of transparency in pricing and worry that they are being routinely overcharged.

"For example, 10 invoices from one contractor with a total value of £102,000 were immediately re-priced to £56,000, almost halved, simply on being queried."

Robin Reames, director of Auto Rescue Logistics and previously co-founder of Swiftcover, said: “The insurance industry has seen this sort of behaviour before.

"Ten years ago ARL fought battles to combat excessive vehicle recovery and storage charges.

"It took an insurer then to go to court and challenge those charges. The victory changed road traffic law and stopped the nonsense.

"CMA and others are now exposing the same kind of unjustified charges being levied on insurers by managing agent contractors."