Home insurance: Britons flush away mobile phones worth millions

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If you've ever found yourself trying to fish your mobile out of the toilet, you're not alone.

A staggering 855,000 handsets are flushed away every year - that's roughly £342 million we're 'loo'sing.

Research by SimplySwitch.com, the price comparison and switching service, found 4.5m handsets are lost or damaged every year.

Most common ways to lose a phone

Common catastrophes include leaving mobiles in the pub (810,000 handsets) in a taxi (315,000) or on a bus (225,000).

More bizarrely, our beloved pooches chewed their way through 58,500 handsets last year and 116,000 went through a spin cycle with the dirty laundry.

The research found that over a quarter of mobile owners had lost or damaged a handset, with men more prone to carelessness than women.

28 per cent of men admitted to breaking or losing their phone compared to 26 per cent of women.

Of the 18 million new handsets bought in the UK every year, roughly 4.5 million will end up lost or damaged.

With handsets now costing up to £400, and people often opting out of the insurance package, there's more reason than ever to look after your mobile.

There is some hope, however, as people become more careful with age. Although 40 per cent of under-34s admitted to losing or damaging their handset, this dropped to a mere 16 per cent among the over-55s.

Karen Darby says: "Because most people now rely heavily on their mobile, it's a good idea to keep a copy of your phone numbers on a computer or spare sim card. That way, if your mobile goes missing, all is not lost. As phones continue to shrink in size, they also become easier to lose, so people need to take extra care."