Men enjoy 'money dumping'

Holidaymakers from the UK are going on shopping sprees on their way back from overseas in order to get rid of any foreign currency they may have left over and men are the worst culprits, a study by one bank has revealed.

Abbey estimates that £1 billion a year is spent in departure lounges by more than 16 million Brits returning from a trip away, comprising of 9.6 million men and 6.6 million women.

The average amount ‘dumped’ is £65 it was found.

Abbey head of banking Steve Shore pointed out that changing the money back into the pounds may be the more sensible thing to do.

He said: "It’s amazing how much people are prepared to waste. Even with a commission fee, converting the money back into sterling is far more cost effective than splurging it on things you don’t need."

Buying refreshments from food establishments (54 per cent) and purchasing gifts for others (35 per cent) are the two most popular ways of using up holiday money, the research showed.