As many as 14% of drivers have paid up to £100 in parking fines in the last 12 months, according to a survey.

Around 11% of men admitted to regularly parking illegally, while nearly two in five drivers said parking regulations were confusing, the poll by car insurance company Sheilas' Wheels found.

Unclear regulations topped the list of excuses for trying to avoid a parking fine.

Other excuses included "I was only gone briefly" and "I had a personal emergency".

The poll of 1,006 adults showed 25% chose to completely ignore parking restrictions at weekends or bank holidays.

The survey also found:

:: 7% regularly park in customer-only spaces when they are not a customer;

:: 13% use their children as look-outs to warn when parking wardens are about;

:: 22% do not believe flouting parking regulations counts as breaking the law;

:: 10% have been caught parking illegally in the last year and 8% of offenders have successfully appealed against their fine.

Jacky Brown, of Sheilas' Wheels, said: "Flouting parking regulations has become a game of cat and mouse between many motorists and parking wardens and often involves people who would never consider themselves as law-breakers.

"Parking regulations exist for a reason and it's shocking to see the lengths motorists go to in order to avoid being caught out."