The number of EU nationals living and working in the UK is the cause of some fierce debate over immigration laws - however, it’s the rise of overseas fleet drivers that has caused controversy this week.

Research from a car insurance provider has shown a 270,000 increase in the number of resident EU drivers in the last six years. During the same period the number of HGV traffic from the continent has trebled.

This has brought with it many problems including increased congestion, a rise in the number of accidents and huge costs for the car insurance industry. In fact the total cost for the UK economy is estimated to be in the region of £795million.

Car insurance claims from accidents involving EU drivers have grown every year since 2001 - increasing by 61.4 per cent in that time period. This has cost the car insurance industry around £36million in claims.

Polish drivers are the most likely to be involved in an accident on UK roads - they are involved in 16.6 per cent of the total. They are closely followed by German drivers (13.5 per cent) and drivers from the Netherlands (13 per cent).

It’s not just the rise in the number of accidents that is causing problems, however. The report also highlighted the affect on congestion with EU car and lorry drivers collectively adding an extra 6.6billion miles to UK traffic. This cost the economy around £328million in 2006 and is expected to leap to £494million annually by 2012.

UK fleet drivers have been urged to take extra caution as EU drivers may not be overly familiar with the road system. If you are involved in an accident with an EU driver take additional care when exchanging details and gather as much information as you can as it can take several years to resolve car insurance claims due to the number of intermediaries involved in negotiations.