Broken Britain being glued and screwed back together

As the country teeters on the edge of yet another recession, more than £700 million is being spent annually by Brits replacing broken domestic items, yet three million people - equating to 1.2 million households - are having to eat and drink from plastic plates and cups, according to research of 2,000 UK adults by online home insurance provider swiftcover.com.

The survey went on to reveal that a fifth (20 per cent) of Brits continue to use broken items until they are totally unusable. Refusing to admit defeat, 15 per cent of those with broken domestic items are attempting to repair damaged furniture themselves, including 10 percent who have tried to repair crockery when previously, they wouldn't have bothered.

James Barclay, home insurance expert at swiftcover.com, commented "Although millions continue to replace broken items around the house, many are making do, repairing damaged items or in extreme situations, using plastic plates and cups. There's clearly a growing acceptance that money is tight so getting the glue out or making do, is now most definitely back."

Whilst people are ready to make do and mend they are not so willing to accept responsibility, rather shrouding the accidents in mystery. As many as one in six (17 per cent) breakages are simply unexplained and nearly one in ten (nine per cent) choose to blame their pets for accidents in the home.

However, whilst the majority of Brits are going to great lengths to keep costs down, 6.9 million have spent at least £100 replacing broken items in the home in the past year. In fact, a privileged 300,000 have spent more than £1,000 on replacing broken items - enough to buy over 50,000 plastic cups at your average supermarket.

The majority of items are broken in the kitchen (65 per cent) with two thirds of people recently breaking cups and glasses (66 per cent) and just over half smashing plates, bowls or other crockery (51 per cent). Ominously, more than 3.5 million have seven years of bad luck ahead of them, having broken a mirror in the past 12 months.