Insurer Aviva has revealed some of the most unusual cases it saw last year – including a hapless burglar who managed to get himself locked in the homeowner’s shed.

A badly-behaved monkey, a bungling burglar trapped in a shed and an amorous horse which mistook a customer’s car for a potential mate prompted some of the most unusual claims for damage to property which insurance giant Aviva dealt with last year.

The UK’s biggest insurer said it accepted 96% of the claims it received in 2018, amounting to 991,700 commercial and personal claims collectively worth more than £3.8 billion.

It said some of the most unusual cases it paid out on last year included arranging for the bodywork of a car to be repaired after a horse mistook it for another horse and proceeded to make amorous advances.

The insurer also replaced a customer’s mobile phone after a monkey snatched a customer’s bag during a holiday and smashed the phone after rifling through the person’s belongings.

Another successful claim involved a customer needing medical assistance after being bitten by a gorilla during a trek to see the animals in their natural habitat.

And in another case, Aviva paid out a claim for damage after a hapless burglar tried to hide in someone’s shed but accidentally locked himself in, making it easier for the police to apprehend him.

Aviva said it also accepted around 3,000 weather-related motor claims in the first half of 2018, mainly due to the adverse conditions from the Beast from the East. It was advised there were also around 7,000 home insurance claims due to storm, flood and freezing conditions in the first half of 2018.

It also said a combination of dry weather and high temperatures resulted in an increase in the number of road traffic accidents reported to it over the summer of 2018. Factors such as sun glare and an increase in the number of cars on the road were thought to be contributing factors.

It said the reasons for some claims being logged but declined are common across the industry and include the value not meeting the policy excess (the first part of the claim that the customer pays), a pre-existing health condition or lifestyle choice not being declared when the policy was taken out, and claims falling outside the terms of the policy, such as for damage which is normal wear and tear.

More than a million parents fall victim to buggy theft shocking figures reveal

Official figures reveal thousands of pram thefts but further research shows that very few cases are reported to the police.

More than one million parents have had their child’s buggy stolen since 2007, new research reveals.

With the average cost of a stolen buggy at £487, the black market in posh prams is fuelling this crime that costs £60 million a year.

Official figures reveal thousands of pram thefts but further research from comparison site  confused.com shows that very few cases are reported to the police.

One in six parents of children under 12 said they’d had a pram or buggy stolen, adding up to 127,000 thefts a year and 1.5million over the past 12 years. Of these, more than two in five did not report the incident.

As well as the pram other high value items are often stolen in the process. In nine out of 10 thefts additional items including mobile phones, handbags, wallets and tablets were taken.

Parents in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Essex need to be particularly vigilant as these regions have seen the highest number of officially recorded cases over the past four years at 518, 269 and 260 respectively.

Disturbingly, crooks often strike during broad daylight and in public places. The most common locations for thefts are cafes, public car parks and outside supermarkets with Mothercare, Silver Cross and Mamas and Papas the most popular brands targeted by thieves.

The study also suggests that parents’ willingness to buy second-hand prams could actually be contributing to the buggy black market.

Tom Vaughan, head of home insurance at Confused.com, said: “Being a parent is expensive, and prams are no exception. Our research shows that on average, parents spend £362 on their child’s pram or pushchair, usually with the intent that they will invest in one to use for all of their children. But the value of a stolen pram is significantly higher, at £487, suggesting that thieves have an incentive to carry out such thefts and sell second-hand prams on the black market.

The theft of a pram can be an incredibly disruptive, expensive and inconvenient experience for parents.”