£342 million of mobiles down the drain
A quarter of people in the UK admit they have had to shell out on a new mobile after losing or damaging their original handset, with the most common mishap being mobiles dropped down the toilet.Some 855,000 handsets are dropped down the loo each year, at a cost of around £342 million, according to SimplySwitch.com, while 4.5 million mobiles are lost or damaged per year in total.Around 810,000 handsets have to be replaced each year because of owners leaving their mobiles in a pub with a further 315,000 left in a taxi and 225,000 on a bus. Approximately 116,000 mobiles got accidentally put in with the laundry and dogs were responsible for damaging 58,500 handsets last year.Men tended to be more careless with their mobile, with 28 per cent of men confessing to damaging or losing their handset compared to 26 per cent of women. Karen Darby, from SimplySwitch.com, commented: "Of the 18 million new handsets bought in the UK every year, roughly 4.5 million will end up lost or damaged. With handsets now costing up to £400, and people often opting out of the insurance package, there's more reason than ever to look after your mobile."Because most people now rely on their mobile to stay in touch, it's a good idea to keep a copy of your phone numbers on a computer or spare sim card. That way, if your mobile goes missing, all is not lost. As phones continue to shrink in size, they also become easier to lose, so people need to take extra care."
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