Fencing contractors have been warned to check any claims carefully if they receive bills from Highways England for damage to property.

The warning comes from Claims Management & Adjusting (CMA), which has called on Highways England to review its processes for handling Crown property claims against drivers, fleet operators and insurers.

Highways England or its contractors can charge for damage to Crown property, such as when a motorway barrier or traffic sign is hit.  But CMA says many claims are incorrectly priced.

In the most bizarre case, it found that a 3.5 tonne pick-up truck supposedly used by a contractor in a motorway repair was in fact a Mercedes-Benz E350 AMG convertible.

CMA MD Philip Swift, a former police detective, said: “Presenting a sports car as a truck is one of the more amusing inaccuracies we’ve seen, but it reveals serious problems.  The contractor seems to be guessing at the vehicle registration, an important data point, and Highways England appear willing to accept what they are presented with without verifying it.  Their systems are not robust enough to detect even obvious anomalies.

He warned fleets and insurers not to take claims at face value but to scrutinise them.