'Around one in eight car owners stop driving to work due to fuel prices'

Around one in eight car owners say they’ve stopped driving to work because of soaring petrol prices, according to new research.

The figures were published following new polling commissioned by the Liberal Democrats.

Just over 2,500 adults in the UK over the age of 18 were interviewed as part of the study.

Of those, 1,865 had a car in their household.

The research was carried out online between July 15 and July 17 this year.

In the findings, 16% of those who have a car said that they had stopped driving to the supermarket because of the rising cost of petrol.

And 10% said they had cancelled a family holiday in the UK due to the issue, while 7% had stopped driving their children to school.

The figure was also 7% of respondents who said they had driven to elderly relatives less.

And 6% of the respondents said they had stopped driving to medical appointments.

In the 18-34 age category, as many as one in five (20%) said that they were not driving to work because of the rising costs.

The Liberal Democrats have demanded a fuel duty cut in rural areas, combined with slashing VAT to 17.5%.

The party claims that this would save a typical driver about £200 a year.

Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Jamie Stone, said that the country is “grinding to a halt” because of the rise in costs.

“In areas like my Highland constituency, people are utterly dependent on their cars to get to work, get their kids to school or visit elderly relatives,” said Stone.

“These figures show the impact of soaring petrol prices which are blowing a hole in the pockets of millions of families around the country. The whole country is simply grinding to a halt.

“Thanks to SNP ministers in Edinburgh, local bus and train services have been run down so there are fewer alternatives than ever.

“People in rural communities like ours are bearing the brunt of devastating fuel price hikes, yet the UK government is refusing to lift a finger to help.”

Stone added: “This has to be a wake-up call to both the SNP and the Conservatives.

“They need to stop arguing and help people with this cost-of-living emergency.”