Almost one million homes 'mired in transport poverty'

Date: 6/3/2013

More than 800,000 homes in Britain are "mired in transport poverty," a report published by the RAC Foundation has revealed.

The organisation used figures from the Office for National Statistics to estimate that the poorest ten per cent of households in the UK are spending over a quarter of their disposable income on buying and running a vehicle.

"We already knew transport was the single biggest area of household expenditure bar none," said Professor Stephen Glaister, Director of the RAC Foundation.

"But this spending breakdown just for car-owning households is not normally available."

According to the numbers, there are around 800,000 families trying to run a car on a disposable income of no more than £167 a week, spending £44 to cover motoring costs.

Mr Glaister added that substantial cuts to the rate of fuel duty will be required in the Chancellor's upcoming Budget if the situation is to improve, explaining that minor changes would simply equate to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic."

Posted by Sarah Bailey

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