Rip-off rates offer just 0.87 euros per £1 at the airport
AIRPORT currency firms have been accused of reaching a new low by offering holidaymakers as little as 0.87 euros for a pound.
With a record 2.4million travellers estimated to have flown abroad over the weekend, currency firms have been cashing in by offering rock-bottom exchange rates and hefty fees.
One pound is currently worth around 1.11 euros, having fallen in value by around 15 per cent since the EU referendum in June last year.
Bureaux de change at airports and train stations are known to offer poor rates to holidaymakers buying their foreign currency at the last minute, and then often charging a commission on top.
Yesterday travellers using Cardiff Airport’s Forexchange outlet were being offered the equivalent of 87 euros for £100. Their headline exchange rate was 92 euros per £100 but the firm was
also charging an additional £4.99 commission – which meant the final rate was about 0.87 euros per pound. Similarly, at a Moneycorp booth at Stansted Airport in Essex, £100.66 would buy just 90 euros after a £4.99 commission was paid.
During the 2015 summer holidays, Britons could typically exchange £1 for 1.41 euros. Liberal Democrat leader Vince Cable said currency firms should be investigated by the competition watchdog in light of the latest findings.
He told the Mail on Sunday: ‘These firms should be investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority whose job is to stand up for the consumer in the face of unscrupulous practices of this kind.’
Better deals are offered online or by high street firms. Customers who ordered more than £500 from the Post Office could get more than 1.09 euros for every pound.
Moneycorp said: ‘The reason for our higher airport rates is the significant cost associated with operating there.’
A Forexchange spokesman said: ‘Costs at airports are higher because of rent... and the long opening hours required.’
‘Unscrupulous practices’
THE only surprise about International Trade Secretary Liam Fox’s formal complaint over the BBC’s palpably biased Brexit coverage is that it’s taken him so long to make it. Since the referendum, the Corporation has abandoned all pretence of impartiality and acted as cheerleader for the Remain campaign in its attempts to sabotage the will of the people.
Mr Fox rightly identifies a ‘clear pattern of unbalanced reporting’, in which positive economic news is ‘wilfully’ ignored in favour of relentless shroud-waving. Predictably, the BBC says it ‘does not recognise this characterisation of our coverage’.
And that is exactly the problem. AntiBrexit prejudice is so institutionally ingrained in BBC staff, that they believe it to be the norm. For all the pieties about fair and accurate reporting, public service broadcasting on this crucial issue has given way to blatant propaganda. IT’S the job of the Competition and Markets Authority to prevent unscrupulous businesses using monopolies or privileged trading positions to fleece consumers. So why aren’t they cracking down on airport currency firms offering holidaymakers just 0.87 euros for a pound? Yes, sterling has fallen since the referendum result – but a pound is still worth 1.11 euros. This profiteering has nothing to do with Brexit. It’s just a grubby rip-off.