Men are still routinely being charged more than women for car insurance, five years after the introduction of an EU rule intended to end price discrimination by gender.

The EU’s gender directive moved to eliminate the practice of insurers automatically favouring women and as a result discounting their premiums by hundreds of pounds. This had been commonplace in the industry, and gave rise to companies like Sheila’s Wheels aimed solely at women drivers.

But new data shows that even when automatic gender-specific pricing is removed, men are still paying more - because insurers' data continues to rate the majority of male drivers as a riskier proposition.

Car insurance premiums analysed by website comparethemarket.com show the 2012 gender discrimination ban has had little effect. In fact, it suggests the gap between what men and women pay has on average widened in the past five years.

Between June and August 2017 the average policy for men was £821, while the average cost for women was £649 - around 27pc higher.