A motorist whose car insurance premium rocketed by almost £1,000 was told by a salesman his insurer no longer wanted the business of Bradford drivers.

A customer of Esure for three years, Mark Watts saw the annual premium for his car rise from £256 to £1168.13 when he phoned the company to inquire about renewal – his nine-year-old Peugeot 406 saloon is worth £1,600.

Mr Watts, of Derwent Road, Bolton, said: “I asked what the reason was for the dramatic increase. She said they don’t want to insure anybody in Bradford any more.

“She said to me they are trying to price us out. She said there are various places they don’t want to insure any more.

“I was absolutely gobsmacked. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been with Esure years and I have nine years’ no claims bonus.”

A spokesman for Esure – promoted by Michael Winner in TV adverts – denied the company did not want to insure Bradfordians and branded the phone call “a disgrace”.

The spokesman said: “The member of staff was attempting to deliver a difficult message about a very large premium increase and took it upon herself to blame it on something that was simply untrue.

“Esure has over 21,000 customers in Bradford and we welcome their business.

“This agent has been taken off the telephone and we are taking appropriate action. We do not tolerate staff who give false justifications to customers when our training aims to ensure they are treated fairly and spoken to clearly and honestly – even if the message is a difficult one.

“We will also be apologising to Mr Watts directly about this.”

Esure said Bradford has been re-rated, which has meant a third of BD postcodes have seen insurance rises, but another third have seen decreases.

Car insurance premiums rose across Bradford by 20 per cent in the past year, according to research by the confused.com price comparison website.

Barkerend, Bradford, was named the UK’s uninsured driving capital by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau last year with almost half of its vehicles being driven without insurance.