Car Commuters Spend up to £1,000 a Year Fuelling Their Trip to Work

LONDON, January 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ –

– British workers who commute by car cover an average of 3,326 miles a year just to
get to and from work

– West Midlands has the highest proportion of ‘car commuters’

– Santander 123 cashback credit card can cut the cost of motoring, offering 3%
cashback on petrol station spend

Commuters are spending up to GBP1,000 a year on petrol or diesel just to get to and
from work, according to new research[1] from Santander 123 cashback credit card
[http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1237866883945&empr=Abbeycom&launch=NO&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_ViewSelector ]
. The findings reveal that British ‘car commuters’ travel an average of 3,326
miles a year for this purpose, spending an average of GBP840 each on fuel.

Scottish ‘car commuters’ cover the most miles travelling to and from work, covering an
average of 3,934 miles per year. This is followed by those in the East of England who
travel on average 3,907 miles per year and the East Midlands who cover 3,643 miles each.

Car commuters in the East of England spend GBP1,008 each annually on the journey to
work, more than any other region. Those in the East Midlands spend an average of GBP960 on
fuel to get to and from work, compared to Londoners who spend an average of GBP948.

Number of miles travelled and money spent on fuel by car commuters

                                                     Average spend on
                            Average number of miles  diesel/petrol for
                            travelled going to and   travelling to work
                            from work per car        per car commuter
        Region              commuter per year        per year

        East                3,907                    GBP1,008
        East Midlands       3,643                    GBP960
        London              2,825                    GBP948
        North West          3,485                    GBP852
        North East          3,538                    GBP840
        Scotland            3,934                    GBP840
        South West          3,010                    GBP828
        South East          3,590                    GBP816
        West                3,300                    GBP780
        West Midlands       3,036                    GBP732
        Yorkshire & Humber  2,561                    GBP624
        GB                  3,326                    GBP840

However, it is the West Midlands and Wales that have the largest percentage of workers
who commute by car. Seventy-one per cent of employed people in these regions travel to and
from work in a motor vehicle, compared to just 32 per cent in London, where much higher
numbers rely on the public transport system.

Percentage of workers commuting by car

                                      Percentage of employed people who
        Region                        drive to work

        West Midlands                 71%
        Wales                         71%
        Yorkshire & Humber            70%
        East of England               69%
        North West                    67%
        Scotland                      64%
        North East                    63%
        East Midlands                 63%
        South East                    62%
        South West                    57%
        London                        32%

Santander is advising workers to look at how much money they spend on their commute
and investigate ways of reducing their costs.

Alan Mathewson, CEO Santander Cards, said: “Nearly two thirds of workers travel to and
from their place of work in a car, but they often don’t realise how many miles they clock
up doing so and how much money they spend on fuel alone. Over the course of a year, car
commuters could save a significant amount of money by making small changes to their
routine. For example, they could consider car-pooling with colleagues or looking at
products such as our 123 cashback credit card, which provides 3% cashback on money spent
in petrol stations.”

Santander’s 123 World

The Santander 123 Cashback Credit Card and 123 Current Account
[http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1210607928177&cidAgrup=845616358929450&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateY2&posSel=1 ]
are designed to reward customers and help them save money. The card pays up to 3%
cashback on household spend and has paid over GBP19 million in cashback to customers since
its launch in September 2011. In addition Santander’s unique ’123 Current Account’ pays
cashback on all utilities, council tax, Santander mortgage payments and communications
direct debits set up on a customer’s account, as well as paying in-credit interest on
balances up to GBP20,000.

Product benefits

123 Cashback credit card pays cashback

        - 1% cashback on supermarkets
        - 2% cashback on department stores
        - 3% cashback on petrol stations and National Rail and Transport for London

123 Current Account pays cashback on household direct debits

        - 1% cashback on water and council tax
        - 2% cashback on electricity and gas
        - 3% on mobile, home phone, broadband, paid-for TV packages

123 Current Account also pays in-credit interest

        - 1% AER on the entire balance, once the customer's balance is GBP1,000 or
          over
        - 2% AER on the entire balance, once the customer's balance is GBP2,000 or over
        - 3% AER on the entire balance, once the customer's balance is GBP3,000 or over
          (up to GBP20,000)

The information contained in our press releases is intended solely for

journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions.

Notes to Editors

(1) Research commissioned by Santander and conducted by Opinium Research 9th – 11th
October 2012. Sample size 2,013 UK adults.

About Us

Santander UK plc is a full-service retail and commercial bank providing services to 25
million customers, with more than 1,300 branches and 28 regional business centres. It is a
wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander. Santander UK plc manages its affairs
autonomously, with its own local management team, responsible solely for its performance.
Over 90% of the assets on Santander UK plc’s balance sheet are UK based and it is subject
to full supervision of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK. Santander UK plc
customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.

Sovereign exposures to Europe (excluding UK) as at March 2012 are not significant at
less than 1% of total assets and primarily relate to Swiss government. Total exposure to
periphery countries is c. 0.3% of total assets.

Banco Santander (SAN.MC, STD.N, BNC.LN) is a retail and commercial bank, based in
Spain, with a presence in 10 main markets. Santander is the largest bank in the euro zone
and is among the fifteen in the world by market capitalization. Founded in 1857, Santander
had EUR 1.383 trillion in managed funds, more than 102 million customers, 14,760 branches
- more than any other international bank – and 193,000 employees at the close of 2011. It
is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America. Furthermore, it has significant
positions in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Poland and the U.S. northeast.
Santander Consumer Finance operates in the Group’s core markets as well as in the Nordic
region. In 2011, Grupo Santander registered EUR 7,021 million in recurring net profit.

SOURCE Santander