UK parents spend 52 hours every month driving their children

Taxi of Mum and Dad: Parents in the UK spend 52 hours every month driving their children around, study shows

  • Parents rack up on average 3,084 miles driving their children around each year
  • It the equivalent of driving from Land’s End to John O’Groats three times

Parents are so used to ferrying their children here, there and everywhere that they have long called themselves Mum and Dad’s taxi service.

So it will no doubt come as little surprise to them to learn that they spend 52 hours a month on average behind the wheel in the service of their little ones.

A study shows parents will rack up a staggering 3,084 miles a year – the equivalent of driving from Land’s End to John O’Groats three times. This includes 673 miles on school runs, 367 miles to and from after-school clubs, and 484 miles to friends’ houses on average each year.

The survey of 1,700 Brits found parents spend up to 624 hours a year – 52 hours every month – driving their children around. One in three insist they spend more time driving their kids around than using the car for their own purposes, with a third saying they feel like a taxi driver most of the time.

A study shows parents will rack up a staggering 3,084 miles a year – the equivalent of driving from Land’s End to John O’Groats three times

To add insult to injury, 57 per cent complained they have never once been thanked by their kids or teens for giving them a lift.

Fifty-five per cent think they drive their kids around more than their parents did when they were younger.

The survey also reveals that an average of two arguments take place in the car a week. Twenty-two per cent said that their children complain about their car not being new or expensive enough, while 26 per cent get complaints about their driving skills.

Little wonder then, perhaps, that one in five have pulled over to the side of the road and told their children if they didn’t like their driving, they could get out and walk.

Forty-five per cent say they have been forced to stay up later than they’d like at the weekend in order to pick their kids up from a party or event.

Yet a third enjoy driving them around because they chat more in the car than at home, while one in four enjoy feeling like they are needed.

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