Brits Pinch £3 Million Worth Of Tea Bags A Year From Hotels

We all want to get value for money when we go on holiday, hence the majority of us spend hours trawling the web looking for the cheapest flights/best currency conversions/prices of pints.

This pursuit of value doesn't end once we've got to the hotel though, with a study suggesting that Brits nick around £3 million worth of tea bags a year.

Of course, we don't have to be on holiday to stay in a hotel, so the finding doesn't reveal that we are thrifty holiday-goers so much as it highlights that we are tight bastards who like tea.

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A thousand Brits were surveyed as part of the research, conducted by Bolsover Cruise Club, which indicates that Brits pinch around 254 million tea bags from hotels each year - so that's a shit ton of tea.

But who is to stay that taking tea bags from your hotel room constitutes theft, after all they are there to be used? What's the difference between using all your bags while you're in your room and only using a few and taking the rest with you?

However, etiquette expert, William Hanson, said taking tea bags from a hotel room is 'just desperate'.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: "When it comes to the tea and coffee, if you feel you have to take it home to get by, you should probably question why you are spending money on a hotel if you can't afford coffee or tea bags

"Taking unused tea and coffee or the small sachets of milk is just desperate."

... I wonder what Mr Hanson would make of me wearing my boxers inside out to avoid washing/drinking the bottom inch of people's abandoned pints?

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But hoteliers have much more to worry about than stolen tea bags, if the study is to believed. That's because Brits nick an estimated £6 million in biscuits, £12 million in shower caps, £41 million in towels and £65 million in travel-sized shampoo.

Now come on guys, I was with you on the tea bags, but towels, really? That is surely taking the piss.

But 12.2 per cent of respondents admitted to taking towels, with 11.8 per cent pinching light bulbs, 11.5 per cent jacking cushions and pillows and 9.1 per cent nabbing dressing gowns... Five percent even said they had stolen curtains. Wow.

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Predictably, our old friend Mr Hanson isn't a fan of taking curtains from hotel rooms - nor are the police for that matter. Mr Hanson said a good rule of thumb is to only take things that would be replaced anyway.

He said: "In terms of the toiletries left out by hotels, if they are half used it is often better to take them as it is better for the environment and in many cases is encouraged.

"Other items that are already in the bathroom such as slippers are also fine to take as they cannot be used again once a guest has been wearing them.

"But if you are going to walk past a cleaning cart or cupboard and just take these things, well that is just stealing."

Come on guys, don't be desperate.

Topics: Food, UK News, Interesting, travel, crime

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey