Britain's poorest drivers hit by rising cost of motoring

The least well off families in the UK have slipped further into transport poverty, according to new figures.

Data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) for the RAC Foundation found that around 800,000 car-owning households spent at least 31 per cent of their disposable income on buying and running a vehicle in 2012, compared to 27 per cent the previous year.

The poorest families – those among the lowest 10 per cent of household incomes in the UK – had a weekly spend of just £167. And £51.40 of this was to buy and run a car, including £16.40 on fuel, £9.50 on insurance and £6.10 on repairs and servicing.

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According to the RAC Foundation, the average spend on motoring across all car-owning households is around 15 per cent of total expenditure. This is almost half of that of the poorest households.

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Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the RAC Foundation, said: “For the poorest car owners, there is little opportunity to cut motoring costs further. They’ll already be driving as little as they can and will have cut back on things like maintenance.”

Meanwhile, figures from the ONS revealed that all motoring costs, bar purchasing a car, have risen well above the cost of living over the past 10 years.