It appears Britain's drivers might be finding satellite navigation systems more of a hindrance than a help as research has highlighted the stress the devices can cause.

Conducted by Confused.com, the research found that 52 per cent of drivers confess to shouting at the sat navs, while 45 per cent acknowledge that sat nav mistakes often result in anger and frustration behind the wheel.

The gadgets could also lead to a number of car insurance claims as the study also confirmed that sat navs have caused over £203 million worth of damage to drivers on UK roads in the past year.

Gareth Kloet, head of car insurance at the comparison site, commented: “As car insurance costs continue to rise,it's never been more important to keep your motoring costs as low as possible.

“Our research has shown that the sat nav is not always the blessing it was once hailed to be and increasingly, motorists appear to be sighting the device as a source of frustration and danger!”

He added that the site has launched a sat nav 'blackspot map', designed to highlight areas of risk for the devices and hopefully allow frustrated drivers to “get back behind the wheel a little happier”.