PRESS RELEASE

West Midlands people make the most generous friends in the UK

People from the West Midlands are the biggest sharers in the UK, and those in the Northeast and Northern Ireland the stingiest, according to a survey from online travel social network Friends of Friends Travel (www.foftravel.com).
 

• 78% of people from the West Midlands have borrowed, shared or been given money by a friend, compared to 53% of people from the Northeast
• 72% of people from the West Midlands have borrowed or shared clothes with friends, compared to only 47% of those from the Northeast
• 72% of those from the West Midlands have borrowed, shared or been given clothes, compared to only 47% from the Northeast
• 46% of people from the West Midlands have borrowed an electronic device from a friend, compared to only 21% of people from Northern Ireland
• 1 in 5 people from the West Midlands have borrowed a friend's man to help them with handyman chores, compared to only 10% of those in the Southeast of England
• A scary quarter of people from the West Midlands have borrowed a friend's identity – compared to only 7% of people from Northern Ireland and the Northwest

It seems that people from the Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and also Wales have worked out that pooling resources can help with the pennies when times are tough - and they are sharing all kinds of things with their friends, from clothes to husbands!

For example, 72% of people from Birmingham, Coventry and the surrounding areas have shared or borrowed clothes with their friends, compared to only 47% of those from the Northeast.  People from Wales and Northern Ireland are the next biggest sharers of clothes - 66% of them share, borrow or give away clothes to friends.

Even expensive designer outfits are being shared or loaned out: over a quarter of people from the West Midlands would share a designer outfit with their friends, and this is the same for those from Wales,Yorkshire and London.

So the chances are that Cat Deeley's friends have their pick of her lovely frocks to borrow. However, friends of Cheryl Cole are unlikely to borrow an outfit from her, with people from Newcastle and the surrounding area being least likely to share their top gear with their mates - only 10% of them would do this.

A bed for the night is the most likely thing to be given by a friend with 86% of people from the West Midlands and Wales having stayed with friends while on holiday or travelling, and this number only going down to a low of 72% (Yorkshire people are the least likely to put a friend up overnight.)

The survey was carried out by Friends of Friends Travel, (www.foftravel.com), a social travel marketplace that aims to help travellers save money by enabling them to share services such as accommodation, luggage storage and advice between their friends network for free. Krissa Curran, CEO and founder, says:

"The whole premise behind FOF Travel is that friends like to help each other out, and, especially with travelling, there are many ways that your network of friends - and friends of friends - can help you save serious amounts of money. Our site - FOFTravel.com - helps people to tap into that safe and trusted network easily while travelling locally, regionally or further abroad.
 

"So we knew already that most people share travel accommodation with their friends - often sharing the cost of a hotel room or a friend letting another friend who is visiting the area stay on their sofa - and this survey confirmed that on average 80% of people across the UK have shared travel accommodation with a friend in some way. But, we didn't realise quite how much the sharing culture had permeated into every aspect of our society.

"It makes perfect sense though: although you need to be the generous type to share your stuff with your friends, when they share with you in return, both parties win! It's completely natural for friends to want to help each other out.”

Unsurprisingly, products like DVDs, books and games are very high up the list as things that friends borrow, share and give each other (80% of women across all regions share these products regularly).

In the survey, people from across the UK were asked about their sharing habits across a multitude of areas in their lives, and it would seem that some regions are sharing everything, from the obvious tangibles like books, CDs and DVDs, to childcare and even husbands and dogs.

The West Midland people were the biggest sharers in almost every category. Nearly 78% of them have borrowed, shared or been given money by a friend, whereas only half of those from the Northeast have.  The generosity of West Midlands friends extends to meals out too: 85% of West Midlands folk have friends who take them out to dinner and pick up the tab, compared to only 60% in the Northeast.

Perhaps a worrying figure is that 25% of people from the sharing West Midlands have ‘borrowed' a friend's identity – to get into a members club of some sort – which is probably not strictly legal.

In general, the results don't suggest any sort of north / south divide, as on the whole the biggest sharers are from the Midlands and other regions were big sharers on some things and loathe to share others.

Some stereotypes survive though: Scottish people are LESS likely to share with and borrow from their friends. After those from the Northeast and Northern Ireland, the Scottish were the third least likely to share and borrow their possessions...
 

 

 

You're far more likely to borrow a dress from Cat Deeley than Cheryl Cole....

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PRESS CONTACT

Sophie Banks and Angie Cronin

Loudbird PR and Communications

Tel: 07815 147073 or 07970 810302

www.loudbird.co.uk

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www.foftravel.com 
 
About Friends of Friends Travel
  

Notes to editors

• FOF Travel is a new online marketplace and social travel network aimed at 18-35-year-olds.
• It is designed to encourage people to see the world and enjoy authentic travel experiences through their network of friends and friends of friends.
• Members can exchange basic travel necessities such as accommodation, storage space, travel tips and advice plus trustworthy local contacts.
• The social travel network's foundations lay in their core philosophy of trust, philanthropy and wanderlust.
• FOF Travel is dedicated to satisfying its members' wanderlust through a tight-knit, secure community that relies on the existing trust between friends and the philanthropy that exists in people who sign up.
• FOF Travel has two levels of membership: free and premium.
• The brains behind FOF Travel are:
•  Krissa Curran, CEO and founder
•  Mark Strickland, chairman and co-founder
•  Daljeet Singh, head of marketing and co-founder

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