Brit tourists face rip-off weekend as airport exchanges offer the worst rate ever – just 88 cents for a pound
Holidaymakers at Cardiff airport were caught out, with £1 getting exchanged for just €0.88
BRITISH holidaymakers are facing a rip-off weekend at airport currency exchanges, with pound to euro rates hitting record lows.
At Cardiff airport the Forexchange was offering a rate of €0.88 for £1 - the lowest ever.
Those travelling in Gatwick, Birmingham and London were also being offered less and than a euro for a pound.
At Heathrow, Manchester and Glasgow airports, exchange booths were offering almost exactly €1 for £1.
Ian Strafford-Taylor, chief executive of the currency firm FairFX, told The Guardian: "Time and time again, we have seen how the pound has been subject to volatility since the Brexit referendum and how some currency providers look to be taking advantage of it.
"Our analysis of airport rates today shows that consumers are routinely being offered as low as 0.96 euros to the pound, well below parity.
"It couldn't come at a worse time just as the nation heads off for the great summer holiday getaway."
During the 2015 summer holidays, Brits could typically exchange £1 for €1.41 or even more in some cases.
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The exchange rates were changed ahead of one of the busiest weekend's of the year for airports in the UK, as the summer holiday get fully underway.
Air traffic controllers said that yesterday would be the busiest day in UK aviation history with a total of 8,800 planes taking to the skies across the country.
Peak times were between 6am-8am and 4pm-7pm as more than 770,000 flights took to the UK air space – 40,000 more than last year.