Thatcham’s technical helpline has supported 17,000 vehicle repairs since its launch at the beginning of 2009.

The interactive web portal, which is manned by a five-strong technical team, has had around 1,200 enquiries a week in the first quarter of this year.

Stuart Anstie, manager of Thatcham’s technical vehicle body repair team, said: “Most of these requests are for repair methods, along with a significant number in relation to the Kitemark, from those who wish to discuss deviation from standard recognised repair methods.”

The helpline started life as a single telephone point manned by one technician, but following the launch of the Vehicle Body Repair Kitemark in 2007, the number of technical enquiries increased.

Thatcham introduced an email-based system to which more than 30,000 technical enquiries were logged and closed 2008 while its IT team were creating a web portal to manage the demand for technical information.