Sean O'Meara2013-05-23T00:04:43-04:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=sean-omearaCopyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Sean O'MearaGood old fashioned elbow grease.Why Sandie Shaw's Posh Bashing Misses the Pointtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.30188902013-04-05T08:40:02-04:002013-04-07T14:04:13-04:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-omeara/Featured Artists Coalition, told the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee at the end of March that finance "was the biggest barrier for emerging artists," adding that the best music "comes from challenging backgrounds."
She's half-right about the finance thing and many would agree with her call for tax relief for artists. But she patronises people from challenging backgrounds. Background doesn't determine quality, it determines audience.
To which audience would you market a lifestyle product if it was your job? A gap year student from Bath or a plumber's apprentice from Rochdale? We fetishise privilege just as often as we sneer at it. Made in Chelsea, My Super Sweet 16 and endless column inches dedicated to kids with famous parents are testament to this.
But it's only a matter of time before that capricious fancy turns on a sixpence and we once again turn our attentions to 'proper music made by lads with proper working-class haircuts.'
"The best music comes from those in challenging backgrounds, it comes from Glasgow it comes from Manchester, it comes from Essex," said Shaw, ignoring the fact that the biggest band out of Glasgow in recent times - Franz Ferdinand - formed at art school and the last Manchester band to get to number 1 were The Ting Tings, whose singer's dad used lottery winnings to set up a music management company. And as for Essex, it just feels churlish to bring up Daisy Dares You, daughter of a Duran Duran backing singer or Pixie Lott, graduate of the Italia Conti Academy of Performing Arts when countering that point.
But it's not just access to funds causing the over-supply of dry-haired, winsome boys and girls from fee-paying schools. Even with financial support, The Ting Tings' first iteration, Dear Eskiimo, suffered the sort of label woes that Shaw protests about.
The bigger issue is that connections count for a lot in the record industry, whether your brother is president of a major label , your dad is Sting, (or Sting's guitarist), it helps in the short term to know the right people and you've got more chance of knowing them if you're posh.
When asked by Exposed Magazine if, given her background, it was inevitable that she'd end up in showbiz, Eliza Doolittle, granddaughter of the founder of the Sylvia Young School responded with faux-humility and that unshakable confidence you only get from knowing the right people.
"I think so. People tend to evolve to their environment. Being around celebrities and the whole showbiz environment made that sort of life more normal. I knew nothing different so I considered it the norm. I honestly believe though that, if I wasn't brought up like that, I would still have ended up doing what I'm doing. It's what I need to do."
The people whose job it is to discover and nurture musical talent - the a&r scouts, lawyers and agents - are often (not always, and certainly less so when you look beyond the major labels) from the same background as these well-heeled pop stars Shaw bemoans, and that's where the real disadvantages are.
To be in a position of influence in the record industry today, you need good ears, good business sense, huge amounts of patience and probably a good deal of unpaid work experience under your belt. For every artist that is poor enough to take a badly structured publishing deal, there's an aspirant A&R who can't afford to do an unpaid internship. It's not Mumford and Sons per se, it's behind the scenes where the real inequality lies.
Things are changing, but the entire entertainment industry (and banking and other desirable industries) have traditionally been places where connections and the financial freedom to work for free are just as valuable as talent. Two years ago, you could have bought a record label internship at auction.
But moaning about posh popstars and the inevitable response from the media of championing "real artists" is a self-perpetuating cycle. For every Mumford and Sons, there's a Jake Bugg waiting by to call them out on their accents. Before that we had poor old Keane, then The Enemy's Tom Clarke, mouthpiece for the down-trodden grafter, popped up to cut them down to size.
If we keep having the same tiresome debate, we'll get the same answer. Surely it's not a surprise that people with parents rich enough to send them to a school with actual cloisters and a Latin department typically have a better chance of success in their chosen profession.
Sandie Shaw is right to raise the finance barrier issue, but it's not a debate worth having if the answer is just another working-class musical backlash.]]>Is This the Most Hateful Job Advert Ever?tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.23233942012-12-19T06:16:22-05:002013-02-18T05:12:01-05:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-omeara/
You may have already seen the advert I'm talking about, posted by Dalkey Archive Press on 11 December 2012. The advert in question - for an unpaid internship role which cites creating an "atmosphere of complaint" as grounds for immediate dismissal and carries a tone so opprobrious that you can almost hear the author tutting at the thought of you reading it - was revealed by the author as both an attempt at satire and a real job advert.
The expectation that you'll work for free is one of the biggest barriers to advancement for people from low-income backgrounds. But now even those with pockets deep enough to fund indefinite periods of unpaid work are being sneered at.
John O'Brien, director of Dalkey Archive and author of the advert, did an excellent job of putting off unsuitable candidates, but he also alienated many suitable candidates while revealing the generally unsavoury attitude some employers have toward internship candidates - namely the expectation of free labour, participating in a culture that excludes people without the finances to do the same and encouraging talented people to devalue and degrade their craft.
Watch My Wallet, the money saving website that I write for, recently published an article about the increase in people volunteering for clinical trials. The organisation we spoke to explained how they regularly have freelance writers, programmers, designers and PR working on their laptop while participating in a trial, to top up their income. It's a crowded marketplace and employers are taking advantage.
John O'Brien, director of Dalkey Archive told the Irish Times:
"I thought people reading the advert would get it or wouldn't get it. I can't believe it has been so misinterpreted."
The advert - which sails uncomfortably close to the winds of age discrimination - "this is best suited for a younger person who wants to learn publishing directly from a founder" - fails as satire because it is too believable. It's not that advert wasn't ridiculous enough, it was hateful, it is that the culture of expectation and liberty-taking in these industries is already beyond parody.
It's only when reading the "how to apply" section that you get the sense that the author's bitterness is powered by the fatigue of reading so many self-aggrandising cover letters . You're invited to send a letter explaining "why you're qualified, and why we would be foolish--in light of your knowledge, skills, and experience--not to want you to be an important part of the Press."
The same problem exists across any industry deemed desirable and freelancers are frequently expected to "do this one for free." I've dealt with my share of parsimonious timewasters who want the work doing, but feel that helping you get into 'their' industry is payment enough. Your instinct for this nonsense improves with time and you gradually learn to spot the freeloaders with a cursory scan of their advert. Just ctrl+f any of the following phrases; "would look great on your CV," "fantastic opportunity to break into the industry," "if you impress us," to weed out the blaggers.
It used to be that the advertiser would at least half-apologise for not offering money, but now it's such an established trope that many don't even feel the need to be up-front. It's depressingly standard that the job you're looking at doesn't come with a wage.
Due to the unpredictable nature of the creative industries, many writers, designers, camera operators, photographers and developers are prepared to take brief jobs for lower pay if it tides them over until their next contract.
And yes, sometimes working for less to get in with a potentially good client or employer is the smart thing to do, but never at the expense of eating, and especially when the job demands that applicants "do not have any other commitments (personal or professional) that will interfere with their work at the Press (family obligations, writing, involvement with other organizations, degrees to be finished, holidays to be taken, weddings to attend in Rio, etc.)"
At least Ryanair is offering a decent salary alongside its self-penned "worst job in PR" vacancy.
The Dalkey ad distils all that is murky with such arrangements. The sheer weight of expectation that you'll work for free is bad enough, but the taunting, derisory tone of the ad suggests you're so desperate to work in the publishing industry you'll tolerate a position where "being unavailable at night or on the weekends; failing to meet any goals; giving unsolicited advice about how to run things" are grounds for dismissal.
If you do fancy replying to the Dalkey advert, consider pointing out the weak grammar in one of the closing paragraphs, "applications are encouraged so that you will not be disappointed a position has already been filled." They'll probably like that.]]>Whiplash Claim Crackdown - Why That Minimum Speed Idea Was Oddly Suspicioustag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22772432012-12-11T11:40:13-05:002013-02-10T05:12:02-05:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-omeara/fraudulent whiplash claims. This is a distinct improvement on the idea that floated just before February's insurance industry summit; a minimum collision speed threshold of 15 mph.
While such a threshold would have prevented some of the fraudulent claims that contribute to the £2bn-a-year whiplash bill from being made, it would also put genuine claims at risk of being dismissed on a technicality. It's a good thing they're investigating alternatives.
Why the 15mph Threshold was Suspicious
In March, Watch My Wallet - the independent money saving website that I write for - interviewed Graham Oakley; a former traffic officer and independent collision expert, about the mechanics of whiplash and whether the proposed minimum speed was appropriate. He said:
"Safety air bag systems and seat belt pre-tensioners are designed to activate in a frontal impact but not before certain pre-determined factors occur. Manufacturers don't want expensive-to-repair air bags going off as a result of a heavy bump up a kerb, for example.
"That threshold figure is not easily determined and might vary between different makes of vehicle. I understand a range of 10 - 15 mph are likely ball park figures and if that is correct it is uncomfortably close to the Government figure of 15 mph. I can see claims being disputed solely on whether or not an air bag was triggered.
"It is not possible to assess an impact speed with such accuracy. A medium to high speed collision is obvious to most people due to the extent of vehicle damage or post impact movement.
"However, I don't know how anyone could differentiate between a 9 mph and 11 mph impact unless there was some very sophisticated 'black box' recorder on a vehicle."
No consumer groups were invited to February's insurance summit. In fact, it was criticised at the time for looking like a lobbying opportunity for the insurance industry.
As well as pressing the Government to help them reduce the amount of frivolous claims they dealt with, the insurance industry committed to lowering premiums in return. It is estimated that each motorist pays £90 extra to cover the cost to the industry of fraudulent whiplash claims.
No More Referral Fees
The Government has also pledged to ban referral fees, a move which comes into force in April 2013, alongside a rebalancing of no-win no-fee deals so they no longer require the losing party to pay a fee to the winning lawyer.
The typical referral fee paid by personal injury solicitors for a whiplash claim is £800. The insurance industry makes millions every year from referring their own customers to personal injury lawyers when they are involved in a non-fault accident, often without their knowledge. So the industry stands to lose money here. Hopefully this will not impact on the savings the industry has promised to pass on to customers.
Personal injury claims have increased by 60 percent over the past six years while accidents have reduced by a fifth, but this doesn't necessarily mean that the increase is purely due to bogus claims. Personal injury lawyers advertise a lot more aggressively, the referral process is much quicker and it is generally much easier to claim. Of the estimated 1,500 daily claims, there are doubtless some bogus ones, but it's essential that genuine whiplash victims aren't stigmatised or prevented from making a compensation claim.]]>How Does it Feel to Get Scammed? Horrible, but I'm Glad it Happenedtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.22576622012-12-07T11:32:23-05:002013-02-06T05:12:01-05:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-omeara/humiliatingly rudimentary scam. In fact, saying scam probably lends what happened to me an undeserved kudos, as if the scammer was a snappily dressed confidence trickster who stole my heart before stealing my savings. What I fell for was essentially a crude rip off facilitated by the presence of a single faked document, carried out by a man wearing Crocs and a tracksuit. I'm glad it happened. In fact, it's probably the best thing that happened to me all year.
In all, it probably took him about twenty minutes to get £1,800 out of my pocket and have me thanking him for the experience. It cost me hard cash, days of frustrated anguish and put me worryingly close to the wheels of an articulated lorry. It was a minor con and I don't want to make light of the trauma suffered by victims of more sophisticated scams.
The path to getting scammed didn't start with an email, or a phone call. It started when my car was written off, leaving me in need of a quick replacement. After a few days of online browsing, poking around on the free bit of Parkers.co.uk and phone haggling, I became the proud new owner of a reassuringly mundane 8-year-old Nissan Primera.
I like mundane cars. I don't mean to brag, but this one had 10-month's MOT and a full service history. A full service history, as anyone will tell you, is a must-have for used cars.
So when the car broke down for the seventh time in two months, I began to question the integrity of this full service history, Nissan holograms notwithstanding. The service book was real. The stamps were real too, but as I found out later the work listed wasn't. The car was a disaster waiting to happen. Ostensibly it was fine, even the test drive was a study in smooth refinement and Japanese reliability, but the engine computer had a glitch that would intermittently rob the car of some of its more sought-after features, such as braking and accelerating.
I did all the checks possible. The car was as clean as a whistle, it wasn't suspiciously cheap, it was the ultimate car for people who don't really care about cars and just want something cheap to run. But I still would have avoided it if there was no service history. The dealer I bought it from seemed to think it was cute that I rang to have a go at him after I sold the car for scrap.
It turns out there's a healthy trade in "bespoke" service histories if you know who to ask. If you've got an absolute snotter that you want to flog, don't bother fixing it up, just buy a service history. The books all come from main dealerships and you can order them stamped, so all you need to do is write in the work you're going to claim has been carried out. I bought three fake services see how easy it was, while researching the topic for Watch My Wallet, the money saving website that I write for.
I contacted the companies in question (BMW, Ford and of course, Nissan) to see if they were aware that their service books were being used by used car dealers to hike up the price of patently rubbish and badly maintained cars. BMW and Nissan said they were aware of people using their books, although they were all taking measures to restore some integrity to the concept of dealer service histories.
"BMW is aware that individuals involved in organised crime do try and gain service books as a way of adding legitimacy to a stolen vehicle," Said BMW spokesman Gavin Ward.
"As such we are always upgrading facets of car security for added peace of mind for BMW customers."
As someone who had believed in the service history and all she stood for, I decided I was finished with cars. I bought a push bike instead. The hassle, the expense, petrol prices, petrol stations, the people in petrol stations who don't realise they can fill up their car from either side and who subsequently cause queues, the parking attendants, the private 'parking enforcement companies' who buy my details from the DVLA and harass me, the DVLA who sell my details to known criminals, speed cameras, I don't care about those things any more.
I ride my bike to work every day and I like it. I would say I love it, but I've not done a full winter yet. I'd always had a car, even when I was self-employed and worked from home. But now I work 6.97 miles (according to Strava) away from my house I couldn't be happier not have a car.
I save £52 a month on insurance, approximately twice as much on petrol, over £100 on road tax a year and I haven't even started adding up the cost of maintenance. My commute is 10 minutes quicker and my waist feels an inch or so smaller. I appreciate I run the risk of sounding like the smug ex-smoker who preaches to his phlegmy-throated former comrades here and I have no right to be pleased with myself. If it wasn't for the dodgy service book and the rubbish car, I'd probably still be driving today, moaning about the expense and feeling like a delicate little flower who just needs to get to work. So as annoying as it was, getting scammed worked out quite well for me.]]>It's Expensive Being Poor - The Punitive Nature of Povertytag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.21776732012-11-26T19:00:00-05:002013-01-26T05:12:01-05:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-omeara/
In America there's a name for the collection of inconveniences and expense associated with being poor. They call it the poverty tax. It's all about lack of access to the best deals and being forced into spending more through lack of choice.
A recent study by Watch My Wallet, the consumer affairs website for which I write, found some unexpected examples of a similar phenomenon at play in the UK. Low income individuals are more likely to get stung by certain fees, charges and premiums than better off people. It's a vicious circle.
Accidentally Going Overdrawn Costs More than a Wonga Loan
Watch My Wallet recently compared high street current account overdraft fees against payday loans. We based our comparison on the plausible (for lots of people) scenario of being £11 short two days from payday with a bill to pay.
In all cases, it turned out cheaper to borrow from Wonga.com than to slip into an overdraft. In one case, the charge for going overdrawn for two days amounted to almost four times the cost of borrowing from Wonga.com Unauthorised borrowing of just £1 at another high street bank would cost you over three times as much as borrowing £11 from the controversial payday lender, while the average cost for being £11 in arrears with a high street bank for two days is £13.27.
You can see which banks were the worst offenders here.
Bankruptcy costs more than a Luxury City Break
Aside from the emotional turmoil, ruined credit rating and inconvenience of not having access to mainstream financial products, Bankruptcy is actually too expensive for some people to contemplate.
In August 2012, bankruptcies fell to their lowest figure since 2003. Joanna Elson, Chief Executive of the Money Advice Trust, cited the increased cost of bankruptcy as the most likely driver for this trend.
"People struggling with debt often simply can't afford the £700 it costs to go bankrupt (£525 for the deposit plus £175 for the court fee), even though that would otherwise be their best option. This leaves them in a financial black hole. The number of people using debt relief orders, one of the cheaper remedies, has risen again."
The North East, despite having the fourth lowest average household debt in the UK, was the region with the most personal insolvencies in 2011. This interactive insolvency map of England and Wales reveals some troubling trends about poverty.
People in the North East are more likely to be unemployed than those living elsewhere in England, but they have relatively low household debt (fourth lowest). In terms of insolvency, it seems low income is more of a factor than high debt.
Bankruptcy brings with it other financial disadvantages too. Such as reliance on non-mainstream financial products such as pre-paid debit cards, which can swallow up to £1.75 in charges just for cash withdrawals, metered utilities and pay as you go mobile phones.
In an interview with Watch My Wallet, entrepreneur Kelly Bucher gave us a long list of the penalties she faced before she was discharged, including having to pay six months' worth of rent, plus one month's deposit up-front to secure a flat.
Being Poor is Going to Get More Expensive
Collecting child support from a non-paying non-resident parent will cost £12 when, under current government plans, the Child Support Agency becomes Child Maintenance Service in 2014.
While this isn't just a problem for low income parents (the charge will apply to any case where the CMS has to collect from a non-payer, regardless of income), the need for this CMS assistance with collection, which is currently free, will be more pressing for those on low incomes.
The economics of poverty also contributes to higher prices on mundane, every day purchases. Shops located in areas where car ownership is low tend to charge more for the essentials, like milk and bread. Locals can't get to the big supermarkets conveniently or quickly, so end up paying a premium for the milk. People without cars can't do a "big shop" so they rely on smaller, local shops.
When an expensive appliance like a cooker breaks in a low income house, the cost of replacing it is higher than in a financially comfortable household. Unless the low income household has the money to buy a replacement, they'll inevitably need credit, typically hire purchase, to fund the replacement. This can cost up to three times as much as buying outright.
In a 2011 report, Save the Children found that households earning less than £12,700 pay £253.17 extra for electricity, due to the limited range of tariffs available and metered supplies. Hopefully the planned changes to energy tariffs will be the first step toward making poverty less punitive.]]>Newcastle United's Wonga Deal and 5 Other Things Making Me Hate Footballtag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19547092012-10-10T12:30:53-04:002012-12-10T05:12:02-05:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-omeara/
It was firstly about the cost, which made me feel detached from the game, but it was more about value. Football made me feel ripped off more often than not.
But now, I'm genuinely starting to dislike the game that gave me my first heroes, the game that I spent so much time playing, watching and talking about it. The news that Wonga, the loan company with the outrageous interest rates, had bought the naming rights to Newcastle United's Sports Direct Arena has probably sealed the deal for me. I think I'm done with football for a while.
Wonga Stadium
As of next season, Wonga will be Newcastle's official shirt sponsor, as well as holding the naming rights to the stadium. Millionaires wearing shirts emblazoned with the logo of a short term lender charging 4,214% APR just doesn't seem right, whichever team it is (Blackpool and Hearts are also sponsored by Wonga). Wonga renaming the Sports Direct Arena as "St James' Park" also rankles with me. That was a lovely stick to beat Newcastle fans with.
Goal Celebration Music
The single most embarrassing moment of my Wolves supporting life was when Arsenal beat us 4-1 at home in our first Premier League season under Mick McCarthy. It wasn't the result, or a woeful performance (we were actually a bit unlucky with the first two) that made me cringe, it was when Jody Craddock scored a late consolation for Wolves.
Polite applause and a few ironic cheers seeped from the stands for a few seconds and then it happened. The P.A system crackled and Tom Hark boomed out for a good 30 seconds as the Wolves players trotted nonchalantly back to the centre circle to see out the rest of the defeat. Wolves have stopped this now after a fan backlash, but it still happens elsewhere.
Ticket Booking Fees
I'm not taking the "average man being priced out of the game" angle here. I'm looking at match day prices from a value-for-money perspective. You get 90 minutes of sometimes thrilling entertainment, a chance to watch (if you're lucky) a collection of elite athletes doing what they do best, plus 20 minutes of nonsense half way through. Whether the ticket is worth it or not is down to the individual, but I can't make peace with the concept of booking fees.
Dwindling attendances, especially in The Championship and Leagues 1 and 2, mean that it's no longer always necessary to buy tickets in advance. Since most clubs charge a booking fee per ticket, not per transaction, a family of four can end up paying as much as £6 on top of the ticket price just to get the tickets in advance.
But only a few teams are selling out week on week, so there's every chance fans can turn up and pay on the gate. Especially away fans.
I've seen some awful, contrived stuff in my time and have even enjoyed some of it, (Wolves fans who sit in the Stan Cullis might remember the time when a well-upholstered Portsmouth fan in slip-on shoes tried to dribble the ball from the half way line with hilarious consequences) but it's the assumption that football fans need constant hand-holding and entertaining that puts me off. Especially when people use the "it's for the kids" defence.
I went to my first game when I was eight (Wolves 5 - 2 Fulham, old Division 3). I remember very clearly the choice language, stench of cigars and the general sense that I was in a non-child friendly environment. That's why it was exciting. Flags and face painting rob children of the thrill that going to a football match should offer. Just read out the half time scores, please.
Pre-match Handshakes
Trite, pointless and a complete distraction from the actual values the Respect Campaign exists to promote. When speculation over whether Anton Ferdinand will shake John Terry's hand makes the news, the whole ritual is rendered pointless. Cancelling the pre-match handshakes out of fear that the players won't pretend to like each other, as the FA did when Chelsea and QPR met in January and April, proves this.
"Magic of the Cup"
I expect I'm in the minority on this one, but every year I find myself scanning the draw for the 3rd round of the FA Cup, looking for this year's "plucky minnow." This is the non-league or lower league team that has been drawn against a big top flight team. The "potential banana skin."
I always find myself rooting for the big boys, hoping they'll play a weakened side who under-perform for 85 minutes, then get awarded a dubious penalty in the last five, which sneaks under the keeper and seals their underserved victory.
Football Focus normally does a feature about the minnow. The feature will no doubt include the local baker, who has knocked up some special cakes in the shape of an FA Cup, two old ladies in a bunting strewn town centre who've never been to a game claiming to be lifelong fans and a load of children in brand new scarves shouting the team's nickname. Other tropes include the manager making tea, wide-angle shots of the tiny dressing rooms and a chat with the director at his week day place of work.
Rooting for the minnow isn't an option for me. Not because of the thousands of new fans that turn out for the glamour tie, nor the ones that boo that bigger team's one or two established players. It's because of the hypocrisy. Every year, people who couldn't care less about a little club playing in a 4,000 capacity tumble-down shack of a ground, suddenly turn out to cheer them on.]]>Whoever Gets the West Coast Mainline, Driving Will Still be Cheaper (Unless You Live in Birmingham)tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.19421082012-10-07T19:00:00-04:002012-12-07T05:12:02-05:00Sean O'Mearahttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/sean-omeara/ Watch My Wallet recently revealed that it's up to 44% cheaper to drive from Manchester into London than it is to get the train. This includes parking in inner London and getting tube tickets for four people.
The cheapest train fare we could find for a family of two adults and two children travelling from Manchester on the 20th July and returning on the 22nd was £214.20.
Even if we assume the journey is happening in an uneconomical car and that petrol costs £150 for the round trip and then add £3.50 to leave the car at North Ealing tube station for a day (£1 at weekends) plus tube travel for the family at £15.80, it's still only £119.30.
That's £94.90 cheaper than getting the train.
So when you look at rail fares across Europe, it's hard not to be jealous. An annual season ticket from Woking to London (22 miles) costs £3,268. Travelling similar distances in other European capitals looks eye-wateringly good value by comparison.
France - Ballancourt-sur-Essonne to Paris (24 miles), £924.66 Germany - Strausberg to Berlin (21 miles), £705.85 Spain - Collado-Villalba to Madrid (22 miles), £653.74 Italy - Velletri to Rome (22 miles), £336.17
Sophie Allain, spokesperson for the Campaign for Better Transport, who provided the European train travel figures above, said:
"We knew we had some of the most expensive rail fares in Europe, if not the world, but even we were shocked by how much more the UK ticket was in comparison to our European counterparts."
Why is UK Train Travel So Expensive?
Due to the segregated nature of our network, there are different pricing policies for different parts of the country. These are partly influenced by labour costs in that particular region. Because each franchise is typically the only operator in its region, there is very little competition to keep prices down.
There is one anomaly here though. Due to its central location, Birmingham is served by a variety of operators, so travelling south to London and north to Edinburgh means you can chose between Virgin, Chiltern, London Midland or Cross Country for the cheapest fare.
Here's how to Save Money on Train Travel
Plan ahead: Booking in advance where available is a good start, although you typically can't book more than 13 weeks ahead. Redspottedhanky.com is a good resource for finding cheap advanced fares.
Split your journey up. Breaking the trip into sections is a tedious process, but this approach allows you to get the best fare from each operator, helping you to save money.
For example, an off-peak return from Glasgow to Nottingham purchased eight weeks in advance will cost £68. But the same return journey broken up into the following sections costs just £51.50; Glasgow to Preston (£20.50), Preston to Manchester (£12.00) and Manchester to Nottingham (£19.00).
You don't necessarily need to change trains, just make sure the times match up. Splityourticket.co.uk can help.
This method requires you to travel at specific times. So be careful, you can only claim back the cost of the relevant section of the journey if the train is delayed or cancelled, even if you miss your remaining connections.
Get a railcard: The 16-25 (formerly Young Person's Railcard), Disabled Person Railcard, Family and Friends Railcard, Senior Rail Card and Network Railcard all get you 1/3 of fares. These cost £28 to buy, so if you spend £84 or more on rail travel per year, it's worth it.]]>