Britons have collectively lost a colossal £171 million worth of food a year to seagulls, new research estimates.

Whether they’re stealing fish and chips on the beach or targeting a Greggs sausage roll on the high street, the UK’s seagull population has become infamous for acts of brazen food theft.

Now, 71 per cent of Britons surveyed by Compare the Market confessed they’ve had food stolen or targeted by a seagull, making it almost as quintessential a British experience as buying fish and chips in the first place.

Following a survey conducted among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults, researchers concluded seagull theft amounted to £171,889,518 worth of food.

This is based on a calculation applying the proportion of respondents who had food stolen or targeted by a seagull (71 per cent) to the UK adult population, and multiplying by the average number of times those respondents reported having food actually stolen by a seagull in the last 12 months (0.8), with the average reported cost of food involved in a seagull theft or attempted theft (£5.50).

The calculation assumes that the average value of food involved in a theft or attempted theft is representative of the average value of food actually stolen.

The traditional cod supper is top of the list of food nicked by the bids, with 72 per cent of those surveyed saying their chippy tea was stolen or subjected to an attempted theft, followed by sandwiches (21 per cent) and ice cream (20 per cent).

Off the back of the findings, Compare the Market has launched the UK’s first ‘Gull Guarantee’ at Peter’s Fish Factory in Margate. From Thursday afternoon, customers who fall victim to a hungry gull can have their stolen fish and chips replaced for free, with the insurance price comparison website putting up £1,000 to cover the cost of gull grabs while funds remain.

“We’ve all been there – you sit down with your chips, look away for two seconds and suddenly your lunch has grown wings,” said Charlie Evans, money expert at Compare the Market.

“Seagulls have long had a reputation for stealing right out of hands, so we wanted to find out just how much this cheeky seaside crime is costing Britons. It turns out seagulls aren’t just stealing our food - they’re making a meal of our money too.”

More than three-quarters of Britons (76 per cent) say they have changed where or how they eat outdoors to stop seagulls stealing their food, while nearly a third (32 per cent) say they have abandoned, dropped or sacrificed it altogether.

More than four in 10 (43 per cent) have resorted to hiding their lunch from view, while nearly a third (31 per cent) have gobbled down their food faster to protect it from seagulls. More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of those targeted said they’ve had their food taken or targeted more than once.

Even those who’ve managed to keep hold of their lunch have seen the gulls in action, as 82 per cent of Britons have witnessed someone else become a victim of their food-snatching antics.

Britons also reported seagulls attempting to steal everything from a child’s toy (9 per cent) to a can or bottle of drink (7 per cent) – proving that nothing is off the menu for these scavenging birds.