"The customer claimed..." stories from AA Insurance claims team

'Tis the season to be silly - and some of the claims people make when they make a claim to their insurance company do bring a seasonal smile.

In time-honoured tradition, here are a few that have brought a smile to AA Insurance claims staff when they get a telephone call from customers in distress:

Struck by a flying Christmas tree: Mr Fairclough was driving home from Christmas shopping when, on a bend, a car approached in the opposite direction with a large Christmas tree badly tied to the roof. "He was driving too fast and I saw the tree lift off and it flew straight at me. The trunk made a great dent in my bonnet and caused me to run off the road and into a hedge." Mr Fairclough added: "The chap didn't stop and he never came back for his tree!"

Cat and run: A cat ran across the road and Mrs Carr did an emergency stop. In doing so, she was struck from behind by a Transit van and subsequently believed she had run over the cat. "There was a terrible crash and it pushed my car sideways causing an awful lot of damage to the back. The van driver got out to see if I was OK and was telling him about the cat, which he hadn't seen - until amazingly, it suddenly ran out from under the car and disappeared."

Pulling the wool: That's just what claims staff thought when Mr Carlton said he was driving home from the pub with a friend and passing under the by-pass a sheep landed on the bonnet of the car. "It had come from a lorry that had overturned on the by-pass and in fright it jumped over the parapet." The car was a write-off, but Mr Carlton didn't say what happened to the sheep!

One for sorrow: Miss Pownall, a nurse, was on her way to work when a magpie flew in front of her. Remembering the saying about magpies, ‘one for sorrow, two for joy' she looked out for the second - and promptly ran into the back of the car in front. She didn't say whether she ever did see the second magpie, so perhaps there is some truth in the old adage!

Concertina carols! Mr Woodford was involved in a multiple accident in ‘sleety snow' on the M62. "I was in the middle of about a dozen cars and my car was bashed front and rear. The cars all crunched up like a concertina. While we waited for the recovery trucks, the chap from the car in front took out, of all things, a concertina! He was supposed to be playing at a carol concert so he started playing Christmas carols for us instead!

Family misfortune: Mr McGuinness was following his son who was about to trade in his car for a new one. He made an emergency stop and unfortunately Mr McGuinness ran into the back of his son's car. "I caused a lot of damage," he told the claims handler ruefully. "It meant the part exchange deal was off and my son couldn't buy the car he wanted after all. I wasn't very popular."

Crowd puller: Two into one won't go as Miss Simpson found at her local Asda car park. "We both went into the space at the same time and got jammed against the cars on either side. We were stuck fast and couldn't open the doors and the fire brigade had to rescue us. It was very embarrassing - we had about a hundred people laughing at us."

While stories like these raise a smile - and sometimes embarrassment for the customers - it underlines the importance of insurance cover. "Our claims team do a wonderful job, reassuring people at the scene of an accident and helping them through the claims process," says Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance. "It doesn't matter how bizarre the incident, you may be sure we've heard it all before and will still give a professional and helpful service."

Please note: the names have been changed to protect the embarrassed!