One in every 8 cars has dodgy brakes

Its survey of 1,000 motorists found that 12% were currently experiencing one of the tell-tale signs of a "dysfunctional braking system". And while 15% of these said that they had only noticed the problem in the last week, 51% confessed to driving with the problem for the past month, 17% for the past year, and 9% for even longer!

Astonishingly 3% admitted that even though their brake warning light had come on, they had continued to drive without taking any remedial action.

David White, customer services director at Kwik-Fit commented: "These shocking findings should be enough to make any motorist looking in their rear view mirror question the car behind's ability to stop in time.

"Brakes should be inspected as soon as braking system symptoms are noticed – it's in all road users' interests for you to be able to bring your car to a halt at the time of asking."