British man flies from Newcastle to London via Menorca and enjoys a beach cocktail for half the price of the train fare

Joe Furness, 21, successfully showed how public transport in the UK is probably the most expensive in the world with his adventure, which started when he looked up the price of a train to get him to the British capital from his home town in Newcastle.

Even taking advantage of the various money-saving deals and young persons' railcard discounts, the cheapest he could find a one-way ticket for was 78.50 pounds, or about €90.

Instead, he booked a flight from Newcastle to Mahón, Menorca, costing him 16 pounds (around €19) and, once there, hired a car for 7.50 pounds (about €9) and stopped in a beach bar for a 'sex on the beach' cocktail, costing him four pounds (€4.80).

Next, he returned the car and caught a flight to London from Mahón, costing him 11 pounds (approximately €13.20).

Joe's total spend was 38.48 pounds, or just under €46 – less than half the cost of the train fare and with an evening out on a Spanish beach thrown in.

He posted a photo of himself on the Menorca beach on Instagram (pictured above left) detailing the prices.

“I can have a night out on a Spanish island, hire a car, have a cocktail on the beach, fly back to London and still have 40 pounds left over...or, I could have sat on a train,” Joe wrote.

“What would you rather have done?”

He tagged Thomas Cook holidays, with whom he booked the flights, and Virgin Trains, in his post.

Joe's tale almost mirrors that of two young women who had become friends at university and wanted to meet up just after Christmas two years ago, but found it was cheaper for them to do so in Málaga – including a two-night hotel stay, a third night in Granada and a visit to the Alhambra Palace, plus food, drinks and overland transport – than to catch a train between Birmingham and Newcastle, their home cities.