Driving home for Christmas? 1 in 10 from South East face lengthy journey

This Christmas, more than one in 10 people (13%) in the South East face a journey of between 100 and 200 miles if they want to enjoy the festivities at their childhood home.

According to research from secured loan provider OceanFinance.co.uk*, people living in the South East of England are among those who live the furthest from the place where they grew up. More than one-third (35%) revealed they will have to travel over 100 miles this year if they want to eat turkey at the house where they spent their childhood.

Of those facing a journey of more than 100 miles, some will have to travel 10 times that distance to get to the place where they grew up. In fact, 2% of people who now live in the South East will need to travel between 500 and 1,000 miles to celebrate Christmas in their childhood home.

Across the whole of the UK, the survey of 2,061 adults revealed that 31% have settled down at least 100 miles from where they spent their childhood. However, 47% of people live within 20 miles of the town or city where they grew up; meaning driving home for Christmas shouldn’t be too much of a chore.

The older a person is, the more likely it is they will have to travel long distance to get home this Christmas. Perhaps unsurprisingly, nearly a third (31%) of 18 to 24-year-olds live within just five miles of their childhood home. However, this figure halved when it came to the over-65 age group; of whom just 15% live within such an easy distance of the place where they spent their early years.

Ian Williams of Ocean Finance says: “The need to move to different parts of the country for work means that many families live hundreds of miles apart – and would face a significant journey home for Christmas.”

*Consumer Intelligence questioned 2,061 people over 18 years old – a representative sample of the UK adult population – between 5th and 6th November. Figures based on UK adult population of 50.18m (ONS http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-319259 Mid 2012)