The average British worker spends almost a fifth of their pay on motoring costs, according to research by YourParkingSpace.co.uk.

The online parking platform found that 19.5% of salary, an average of £362  was spent on motoring costs each month by the average driver.

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Car finance made up the largest share of the costs, followed by fuel and maintenance costs. When daily parking was taken into account, the average cost of commuting rose to £465 a month.

Harrison Woods, managing director of YourParkingSpace.co.uk, said: “We know that people are travelling further and spending more than ever to get to work, but considering that we primarily go to work to earn money, it’s staggering to realise that the average worker is spending so much of their wages on just getting there each year.”

The 1.6 litre version of the Ford Fiesta travelling 34.46 miles each day was used in the study, which estimated that it would cost £4,345.35 to run over a working year. The costs were assessed to be £173 a month for car finance, £130 each year on road tax, £562 insurance, £658 maintenance and running costs, and £1,239 for an annual parking season ticket. Fuel costs were calculated at 120.85p per litre, and the car’s fuel economy was 47.9MPG.

YourParkingSpace.co.uk said that a more powerful car, such as the 3 litre BMW X5, could increase costs up to £6,858.41, almost a quarter of annual take-home pay. Average salary was assessed at £28,000, using data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS).

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Woods added: “I would urge anyone who is trying to cost of their journey to shop around for the best deals on all of their motoring expenses.”