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Man buys car for a 100 mile trip to avoid expensive train ticket
27-year-old Tom Church from London had wanted to visit his friend and colleague in Bristol for lunch, just 100 miles away
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The high cost of train tickets in the United Kingdom has become so unbearable that people living there are compelled to find their own means of avoiding the exorbitant transports fares.
27-year-old Tom Church from London had wanted to visit his friend and colleague in Bristol for lunch, just 100 miles away, according to odditycentral.com.
However, weighing the cost of the used car which was being advertised against obtaining a train ticket to the same destination, he decided to go for the first option and it paid off.
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The news website reported that Tom Church got scared by the £218 ($311) train ticket and went ahead to buy the 1997 Honda Civic which cost just £80.
He also spent £81.38 on road tax, £20.43 on insurance for one day and £25 petrol, but at the end of the day, he was still able to spend less than the normal train fare.
Tom Church was quoted as having said: “I found the car on Gumtree, The lady I bought it from, Sutinder, was basically selling it for scrap. It’s a very old car, 1997 Honda Civic, but the MOT was fine. Plus, the engine was small enough that I could get the cheapest road tax: a minimum of six months for £81.38. The total cost was £206.81. Less than just one train ticket. And I still have a car at the end of it!”
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“The point is to show how mad train ticket prices are. Sometimes you have to think outside of the box to save money. However, I’ll be the first to admit this isn’t the cheapest method. You can book tickets in advance and off-peak for less. You may be able to use a railcard. Or you could get a coach. But for those of us who aren’t able to, why do the train companies insist on ripping us off?”
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