The Strangest Insurance Claims for "lost" Mobile Phones"

Brits will spend almost one year of their working lives talking on their mobile phone, according to the UK insurance firm, CPP. In that period, on average, we will make a staggering 88,518 calls - the equivalent of 7,203 hours on the phone. This means, the typical mobile phone user chats for 300 days or just over 10 months of their working life.

So it is unsurprising three quarters of Brits think they would be totally lost without their phone. But almost a quarter (23 per cent) have already had to face being without their phone due to either losing it or having it stolen. Yet a careless 47 per cent have broken their mobile, with the most popular phone failure caused by dropping it, followed by flushing it down the toilet.

John Walkley, Head of Mobile Phone Security at CPP Phonesafe said: "The survey results prove just how much we like to talk on our mobile phones as a nation - although it's astonishing when you look at the number of calls we make.

"With the average handset costing in excess of £250 it's important you have some form of cover, but make sure you have insurance that covers you for airtime abuse, multiple claims and theft, lost and damaged handsets, otherwise you may find that you have to foot the bill to carry on talking."

Silliest insurance claims reported to CPP

• A bird pooed on my window and the phone fell in a bucket of water - it's the birds fault
• A sheep rammed me in a field and crushed my phone
• A thief stole it and hid it up his bottom
• It was stolen by a magpie - I could hear it ringing from a tree
• My two year old put it in her potty and wee'd on it
• My rabbit ate it

The study also says that women will talk on their mobile for two months of their lives longer than men, according to the poll of 3,000 UK mobile users, conducted by CPP Phonesafe. For some, the mammoth total will be even higher as we are so keen to chat on our mobiles - the average longest call lasts 48 minutes, with our partner being the person we chat to the longest.

However, despite a typical mobile user having more than 40 contacts stored in their phone, they will only speak to 12 of them on a regular basis. And 68 per cent of folk even admit to making up excuses to getting some callers off the line. More than a quarter fake a low battery and another 12 per cent say they are running late for an appointment.

And it's our own mothers who we are most likely to lie to - a quarter of Brits agreed mums are the trickiest to get off the phone. Yet a fussy 84 per cent have even completely ignored a phone call altogether as they didn't want to talk to the caller.

But on the other hand, there are some folk who are so desperate to answer their phone they will do it anywhere.

A quarter of Brits admitted to answering their mobile while they are on the toilet and one in five will take a call while having a bath. A fruity three per cent have even answered the phone while ....making love!

Top 10 Cities where people talk the most on their mobile

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Posted to the site on 17th July 2007