‘What’s something in the UK that you can’t believe no one has improved yet?’ – 17 areas of British life that desperately need an upgrade

There’s a lot to love about the UK, but anyone who lives here will tell you that there’s also a hell of a lot that could be improved.

One such person is No-Doughnut-368, who decided to quiz the good people of r/AskUK on the areas of life that could do with a polish. And they even got the ball rolling with their own suggestion:

‘Parking in my city is such a pain for example. With all the apps you need to download and the online registration I sometimes just take the risk and hope I don’t get fined. No cash or card accepted and the app is complete crap anyway. What’s your grumble? A service that’s clunky, something that wastes your time, or a bit of daily life that just feels stuck in the past.’

Here is what fellow disgruntled Brits had to complain about in the replies…

1.
‘Buying/selling property and the whole palaver with chains and solicitors. Other countries have much simpler and more efficient systems that we should copy.’
-thecraftybee1981

2.
‘This is an obvious one. Housing.

‘We need more of it and to be affordable. I don’t think it needs more explanation.’
-fernofry

3.
‘Opening hours for shops and services. They simply make no sense.’
-The_Final_Barse

4.
‘All of the infrastructure … of the whole country .. road, rail, telecoms, public transport, water, energy etc’
-Longonlymonke

5.
‘You can stream 4k video instantly in perfect quality, yet speaking to someone on the phone sounds like they’re sharting down a digeridoo in your general direction.’
-Fit-Bedroom-7645

6.
‘Large scale reopening of old railway lines, not just the odd one here and there, but reversing as many of the beeching cuts as possible, would be extremely politically popular and something you can say to the electorate look what we’ve done, rather than having to spin something/convince them of your achievements’
-greenfence12

7.
‘Anything where an intermediary can book online before a genuine user. Ticket resale sites and even worse, driving tests booked through a government agency! I honestly couldn’t believe it when I found out intermediaries hoover up all the driving tests before people can go online and book./
-Witty_Collection_294

8.
‘The NHS not having a centralised computer system. The fact that I have to take my blood test results from one doctor to another is insane when they all work for the same company’
-Wild_Region_7853

9.
‘Litter and fly-tipping

‘And the fact that we don’t have more bus networks and rail links, and affordable train tickets’
-coffeewalnut08