Rural warning over the rising cost of driving

The least well-off families are slipping further into “transport poverty”, survey results released today suggest.
Rising cost of driving is causing access problems in rural areasRising cost of driving is causing access problems in rural areas
Rising cost of driving is causing access problems in rural areas

The poorest car-owning households spent at least 31 per cent of their disposable incomes on buying and running a vehicle in 2012, the RAC Foundation said, up from 27 per cent the year before.

And rising transport costs, coupled with public transport service cuts, is causing real concern for people living in the most isolated rural spots in Yorkshire, with the squeeze making it harder for residents to access health services.

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The RAC’s findings, based on data from the Office for National Statistics, show that in 2012 the poorest families had a maximum weekly expenditure of £167, of which £51.40 went on a car - £16.40 for fuel, £9.50 on insurance and £6.10 for repairs and servicing.

RAC Foundation director, Professor Stephen Glaister said: “These figures are definitive. They give the official picture of the financial sacrifices being made by the UK’s poorest families to remain mobile.

“Even though there has been some relief at the pumps in recent months and reported falls in insurance prices, it will have done little to ease the burden on those already struggling to make ends meet.”

Involve Yorkshire & Humber, which supports the region’s voluntary sector, says higher costs of running a car and reduced transport provision are having a detrimental effect on rural communities by increasing isolation, making it more difficult to get to work and disconnecting vulnerable people from crucial services.

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Judy Robinson, the organisation’s chief executive officer, said: “High transport costs and the ending or reduction of public transport means that health services are harder to reach especially as they are moving into service centres. This affects elderly and poor people particularly. Sometimes, this means people delay going to their GP and then their condition becomes more serious and more expensive to treat.

“Volunteer car schemes, where volunteers drive patients to hospital or GP visits, find that they need to go much farther afield as the services have been clustered together.

“Getting to work, college or to volunteer is getting more difficult and this impacts on the rural voluntary sector, on health and the economy.”

Prof Glaister said more than half of workers in the most deprived areas of the country commute by car and there is little opportunity for reducing their costs as they will already be driving as little as possible, will have cut back on maintenance and are unlikely to be able to afford to swap their car for a newer model with better fuel economy and reliability.

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Motorists in North Yorkshire and 16 other rural areas of the UK could find they do receive some welcome news later in the year. The European Commission is currently considering applications for 5p-a-litre rebates in these areas. About 125,000 people stand to benefit, the Treasury says.