Forget road rage, Barclays Personal Loans research shows 98 per cent of UK drivers are suffering from Motoring Misery

British motorists are consumed with misery with an overwhelming 98 per cent admitting there is something that drives them mad about being a motorist in the UK according to research from Barclays Personal Loans. The Barclays Personal Loans research showed that with rising fuel prices pushing petrol and diesel to over one pound a litre, top of the misery list is the cost of fuel with over a quarter of motorists citing it as their main complaint about motoring. This result is reflected across the country, peaking with over a third of drivers naming it as their main motoring moan in Wales. However Londoners are unconcerned about fuel prices, preferring to complain about the traffic jams, parking restrictions, road-works, motoring fines and charges that make for a hellish driving experience in the capital.

Gary Duggan, managing director for Barclays Personal Loans said: “With petrol and diesel above £1 in most places, it is perhaps surprising that three quarters of motorists can find some other aspect of driving that drives them more mad than fuel prices – however, Londoners are obviously the least happy finding five other things that irritate them more."

He continued, “Although we can’t do anything about the cost of fuel, traffic jams or congestion charging, purchasing a car has become easier as we have recently reduced our rates on our loans to as low as 6.8% typical APR, and to help a little bit more we will give £50 to customers who switch their current loan to us. So you can reduce costs whilst fuel prices are going up.”

Across the UK motorists turn on their own, naming ‘other motorists’ as the second worse thing about driving. Boy racers, white van men and Sunday drivers are all named and shamed as the most irritating road users, with tractors and caravans close behind. Younger people are most irritated by elderly drivers whilst older motorists bemoan boy racers.

Third and fourth in the list are traffic jams and the poor quality of roads, surprisingly leaving road tax, speed limits, insurance costs and motoring fines much further down the list of complaints.

But looking on the bright side, two per cent of drivers found nothing to complain about at all. “I can only assume they run their cars on biofuel and they live in the Outer Hebrides,” concluded Mr Duggan.

Notes to Editors:

Further statistics including regional breakdowns by government office of the region are available.

Methodology:
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,317 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 14th - 20th September 2007. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

About Barclays Personal Loans
Barclays offers unsecured personal loans with Barclayloan, Barclayloan Plus and Personal Loan from Barclaycard. Personal Loan from Barclaycard and Barclayloan Plus (for existing customers) have a typical APR of 6.8%. Barclayloan is a personally priced product.

In October, in addition to cutting the rate on personal loans, Barclays launched two customer offers:-
- If a customer takes out a loan with Barclays but finds a cheaper loan (with cheaper monthly repayments) elsewhere Barclays will pay them the difference each month plus £1
- If a customers switches their current personal loan to a Barclays personal loan Barclays will pay them £50

Barclays Personal Loans PR contact:
Elizabeth Holloway
Retail Banking PR Manager
1 Churchill Place
London
E14 5HP
020 7116 6229
http://www.barclays.co.uk/loans/


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