I’M not fond of statistics, but I suppose they have their uses - if only to keep statisticians in work.

Yesterday, I learned a particularly intriguing one - that motorists spend 106 days of our lives looking for somewhere to park.

Researchers came to this conclusion after working out it takes an average of six minutes and 45 seconds to find a parking space.

Now, I could use this new information as evidence that we need many more car parks or on-street parking spaces, but I won’t. While regular readers of column know that I’ve particularly strong views on parking, I’ve developed equally robust views on statistics - particularly when they are used to manipulate our perceptions.

It’s not necessarily the statistics that are the problem but the way they are often presented. We journalists are bombarded with potentially misleading press releases sent from this research group or that competent authority which throw out statistics like so much confetti. They should be heeded with caution.

Last Christmas, for example, I saw a police press release which said 50 per cent of domestic violence incidents over the festive period involved people who were drunk.

Terrible, you might say. But think about it - what the release could just as easily have said is that 50 per cent of incidents of domestic violence involved people who were sober.

The manipulation comes about because the authors of the release obviously wanted to single out those people who like a festive tipple or three when it’s obvious the ‘statistics’ show there’s an even chance of someone not under the influence also being involved in an act of violence.

Similarly, drunks have been singled out for allegedly causing one in five fatal road crashes. Shocking, it’s true - but why aren’t we even more angered to learn that the other 80 per cent are caused by sober drivers?