DRIVERS ‘lose' their car at least once a year having forgotten where they parked, according to new research.

The findings, from a survey of 2,000 motorists carried out by Skoda, revealed that drivers in Britain spend a total of more than 5.5 million hours a year looking for their parked cars.

The OnePoll study also found that more than half - 52 per cent - were temporarily unable to find their car.

A further 25 per cent admitted to doing so twice in the past 12 months, with 14 per cent confessing they had suffered a similar fate three or more times during the year.

And according to the findings, men and women are similar when it comes to ‘losing' their car on multiple occasions.

Just over one in 10 male drivers (12 per cent) stated they had ‘lost' their car three or more times in the past year, compared to 16 per cent of females.

When it comes to finding their misplaced cars, male drivers took an average of 6.4 minutes as opposed to 5.6 minutes for female motorists.

Overall, drivers aged 18-25 admitted to ‘losing' their cars 2.5 times per year, with five per cent of these drivers confessing to doing so more than 10 times in the last 12 months. In contrast, drivers aged over 66 ‘lost' their car less than once (0.82 times each year).

The places where motorists most commonly ‘lost' their cars were shopping centre car parks (58 per cent) and supermarkets (36 per cent). Closely followed by the airport (21 per cent) or after an event or festival (12 per cent).

Skoda is tackling the problem of ‘missing' cars with its Connect App which is available to drivers of the Czech-made vehicles.

The smartphone app contains a number of useful features to help owners locate their vehicle, even in the most crowded car park.

A ‘Parking Position' feature transmits data after each trip so that drivers can use GPS to determine the exact position of their car. This information can be viewed through the smartphone app or through the owners' smartwatch, if connected.

The Skoda Connect App also houses the ‘Honk & Flash' feature which at the touch of a button, the car activates the horn and/or hazard lights remotely as long as the driver is within 500 metres of their parked car.