Hands up – We got sent this story by a PR agency and thought ‘that looks like a bit of fun’, and just ran it.
This is something we wouldn’t dream of doing for a story of any significance, but as it was a bit of fluff, we didn’t question it – and that was a mistake.
Lesson learned. That’s the last time we’ll run anything from London PR, or indeed their client, Central Contracts.
Thanks to our ever-vigilant readers for fact-checking this PR nonsense and proving it do be a whole load of baloney – there’s a million square metres in a square kilometre (1,000 x 1,000), not a thousand.
This, in the words of Sarah Samways, London PR.
The average Briton will hoover an area larger than the size of the Isle of Wight in their lifetime, according to the latest research.
The study, commissioned by car leasing company Central Contracts asked over 1500 people how often they vacuumed their house in a week.
This figure was then multiplied by the average area of a UK house and then that figure multiplied by the mean number of weeks in an adult’s lifespan.
We hoover 1.4 times per week
The poll found that respondents on average hoovered their home 1.4 times per week. With the typical house being 88 square meters, this equated to 123.2 sq m being vacuumed per week.
Over the course of the average adult lifespan (18-80) this will equal 397.2 square kilometres, or an area 13 sq km larger than the Isle of Wight.
Researchers also found that we take on average 27 minutes per week vacuuming our homes, meaning that we spend just under one full day a year hoovering.
1450.8 hours over lifetime
Over the course of a lifetime this equates to over 1450.8 hours – or over two months – spent doing this task.
A spokesperson for Central Contracts commented: “We all knew that over a lifetime the area would be pretty big, but we were completely shocked to find out that it was an area bigger than the Isle of Wight.
“Often vacuuming is peoples’ least favourite chore, so if you told them that by the time they kick the bucket they’d have covered an area larger than the Isle of Wight, I think they would dislike it a lot more.”
“I absolutely hate hoovering”
One male respondent commented: “I absolutely hate hoovering and do it as little as I can get away with.
“My wife on the other hand can’t stop herself, there only has to be a fleck of dust for the vacuum to be out. Knowing her she will probably cover an area the size of Wales in her lifetime!”
One female respondent: “Having a clean house give you such a feeling of inner pride and hoovering has to be my favourite task.”
Image: © Used with kind permission of Julian Winslow
19.Mar.13 11:05 update: Thanks to readers comments, this has been busted as nonsense. Altered headline, added explanatory comment at start of story and changed the extract.
