"Poor car-owning households spend more than a quarter of income on motoring"
The amount we spend is never judged equally against other expenditure. We all have bias. Myself I personally don't like spending money on drink, which is why I'm tea total. For some spending ~£50 - £60 per night on a weekend drinking is normal, and budgeted for.
I spend loads on cycle equipment, as I use it everyday for commuting. Others think what I spend on tyres should get you a whole bike!
When I drove to work everyday I spent whatever was required on my car, as I needed it to get to work - traveling 30 miles each way. It was my choice to live as far away from my job as I did, though living closer would have cost me much more in housing costs.
Simply - For some a car is viewed (rightly or wrongly) as a necessity. Its all judged on an individual opinion irrespective of what proportion it is of their own income.
Same applies for housing costs, living in Edinburgh is not cheap! What proportion of monthly take home, do some of the posters on here spend to live in the area they want to, when living a couple of miles away in a less salubrious area might costs as much as 1/2 the cost? I spend roughly 1/3rd of my monthly income on my mortgage, so am I regarded as in housing poverty? - akin to fuel poverty?
Its my choice to spend as much as I do, as I like the house I live in much more than my much smaller rented place, 1/2 the current cost, where I lived prior to buying my current house. I sold our 1 bed flat on Easter road in 2006 and paid a similar price for a 3 bed detached bungalow with huge garden, garage, conservatory.....
Personal bias appears never to be taken into consideration, when people complain about how much its costing those earning less than the average, on personal car use.