British parents provide over £32billion worth of free taxi journeys to their kids ever year, but mums and dad’s think it’s priceless
Mums and dads clock up over 230 million miles a week (that’s the equivalent of travelling all the way to Mars) ferrying their children about, according to new research.
The study by Sainsbury’s car insurance, found that over 9.3 million parents travel an average of 24.7 miles a week, which is worth £46.17 in taxi fares. As well as this mums and dads spend around an hour and 14 minutes each week sitting in their cars waiting for their children – worth another £20.49 in potential cab fares.
Dads are hit hardest by their parental taxi duties, with 4.8 million fathers regularly running their kids around, compared to 4.6 million mums. ‘Dads cabs’ cover an average of 28 miles a week compared to 21 miles for mums.
Mums and dad’s services are required for getting to extra-curricular activities, sports and classes, not forgetting the all-important social events!
But far from being put out by the amount of time they spent ferrying their kids about, 61% of mums and dads said that the time wasn’t wasted. In fact, they said it improved their relationship with their children.
One in four parents said that the time spent as a parental cabbie was a great for bonding, while 18% said it was one of the best times to raise difficult issues with them.
In conjunction with the study Sainsbury’s car insurance has created an online taxi calculator for mum and dad cabbies. How much are you owed?
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