Poor packing costs £350 million

Absent-minded British travellers wasted over £350 million last year, re-purchasing items in airports that they had forgotten to pack, according to research from Abbey Current Accounts. That’s roughly the equivalent to the annual GDP of luxury holiday destination The Seychelles, and enough dosh to fly 50,000 people from London to New York and back, first class.

According to Abbey’s research as many as one-in-three (35 per cent) British airport travellers had to repurchase a forgotten item in the departure lounge in the last year. The most commonly repurchased item was toiletries (45 per cent) followed by travel plugs (34 per cent) and sun tan lotion (25 per cent). Medicine (25 per cent) and sunglasses (22 per cent) topped off the top five.

British men are clearly far more disorganised than their female counterparts, accounting for nearly twice as many incidents of double buying in airports last year - 6.1 million (29%) compared to 3.5 million (16%).

Steve Shore, Head of Banking, Abbey, said: “It’s amazing the total amount wasted repurchasing items travellers already own. It seems that a little more forward planning could save the nation a collective fortune.

“We’re currently offering new customers switching to an Abbey current account 8% on balances up to £2,500 for one year. Customers can earn up to £200, which will go some way to making them even happier on their winter holidays!”

People in Wales and the South West repurchased the most items with 28% of them doing so. Those in the Midlands have the best holiday memories with only 16% of them having to repurchase something they’d forgotten before jetting off.

For more information, log on to abbey.com.