Taxi from Dad? That’ll be £5,000 please
THE meter is running faster than ever on the Taxi of Mum of Dad with parents now shelling out almost £5,000 a year to ferry around their kids.
Amid a surge in fuel costs, parents spend on average around £4,740 taking their children and their friends to school, events and parties, according to a new survey.
It found that 27 per cent of parents drive more than 100 miles a month while acting as a chauffeur to their youngsters. Around 18 per cent are clocking up 150 miles or more while six per cent are doing more than 300.
On average, parents are spending 28 hours each month ferrying their children about.
The school run racks up the biggest cost – £642 a year on average. The average distance travelled by parents per month varied across the country, ranging from 127 miles in Norwich to 108 in Edinburgh, 101 in Glasgow, 73 in London and 67 in Bristol.
But in terms of time spent behind the wheel, parents in London came top, with one in five exceeding three hours a week.
And mums and dads in London are the most likely to ask for petrol money, with 23 per cent asking other parents for a donation when giving their children a lift.
The nationwide survey found a mixed picture in terms of parental confidence in letting youngsters use public transport on their own. Half of parents in Edinburgh were uncomfortable and six in ten in Nottingham were wary, mainly on safety and reliability grounds.
But around seven out of ten parents in Glasgow, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool and London were happy to let their youngsters use buses and trains.
Parents in Birmingham said they chose to drive their children because buses and trains were too expensive.
The survey of 2,000 parents was commissioned by car finance firm Zuto.
Spokeswoman Lucy Sherliker said: ‘Despite the abundance of public transport options in our modern-day society, parents still choose to spend a substantial amount of time in their busy schedules taking their children to various activities.’