A phone dropped in custard and a car chipped by potatoes are among a selection of bizarre claims dealt with by an insurance giant.

Aviva said some of the more unusual claims it has settled include a motor insurance customer who encountered an oncoming tractor pulling a trailer of potatoes, which flew off.

When reporting the incident, the customer commented: “There were no injuries but there were some chips from where the potatoes hit the car.”

The insurer has also cleared up other food-related mishaps, including a customer who sneezed when he was about to eat his lunch, catapulting soup over a carpet and couch.

In another case, a dog knocked a can of beer over a laptop by wagging its tail.

And a home insurance customer claimed for a replacement phone when it stopped working after she had dropped it in a bowl of custard.

In another incident, a deer fell into a customer’s outdoor swimming pool, damaging the cover and tearing the pool lining, causing it to leak.

A local animal charity was able to look after the deer and Aviva settled the claim.

Gareth Hemming from Aviva said: “Insurance is designed in case of the unforeseen and unexpected and, as our claims experience shows, we see plenty of situations which couldn’t have been predicted.”