Motorists in Shrewsbury might need to “spruce” up their driving skills after it was today named as one of the worst places in the country for accidents involving trees.

According to a new accidents survey the town has a high number of insurance claims for crashes involving trees over the last five years, coming second only to Lincoln. The poll was run by elephant.co.uk

It says motorists should also keep a look out for Durham’s lamp posts and Halifax’s walls, which also top the list of claims.

But it would appear Lincoln and Shrewsbury folk are not alone when it comes to the unfortunate tag of places with the highest numbers of collisions with trees, with Taunton in Somerset taking third place in the poll.

Durham, followed by Blackpool and Halifax in West Yorkshire, has the highest incidence of lamp post claims, and Halifax is closely followed by Orkney and Huddersfield for claims where the driver has hit a wall.

Scottish drivers are most likely to hit an animal according to the poll, with Inverness motorists putting in the most “creature” claims, followed closely by Perth, Dumfries, Orkney and Aberdeen.

Some of the more unusual claims include incidents involving vehicles striking badgers, monkeys, swans, horses and cows, with one policyholder hitting a rabbit which, despite its small size, wrote off the car.

Councillor Ted Clarke, who is also secretary of the A49 safety campaign, today claimed he took the poll with a “pinch of salt” but said motorists did need to take extra care on some of the area’s minor roads.

He said: “You can make a road completely straight but if the driver behaviour is erratic they will still manage to crash into a tree.

“Certainly it does come down to driver behaviour and it’s about amending your driving style to match the road.”

Elephant.co.uk managing director Brian Martin said: “Of course any car accident is distressing, whether you hit another vehicle, an animal or an inanimate object, but we were interested in seeing if there were any trends.

“Not surprisingly, Scots were the most likely to hit an animal, as you would expect to find more wild and farm animals in more rural areas.

“However, it was unclear why we would see more collisions with lamp posts, trees and walls in the other areas.

“It’s difficult to see why these towns in particular would top the list for these types of accidents.”