How parents cope with the summer holiday ‘juggling act’

Nik Hurst, 48, from Taunton, has four children that are now aged 13, 16, 20 and 21.

He told the BBC that a major problem, especially for older children in their teens, was the lack of things to do – especially without access to a car.

“When I was growing up there were youth clubs and things like that for young people to use, somewhere you could just hang about with your friends, but there’s hardly anything like that around these days,” he said.

“Everything is either a drive away or is stupidly expensive – you only have to walk through the middle of town and see all the empty shops to wonder why someone can’t do anything with those spaces, even if it’s just temporary,” he added.

“If there’s nothing to do then kids just end up hanging around on the street and getting told off – either that, or they’re stuck in their rooms glued to their phones and end up struggling socially.”