The British public is gossiping more and more on their mobiles, freely admitting to discussing their careers, love lives and even sex lives, as well as those of other people, while talking in public. A Vodafone study of over 2,500 adults highlights that we particularly can’t resist a natter when traveling on public transport.

Hot Gossip Topics

• Private Lives of Others – While only one in five of us will discuss our own love lives – health, careers and children being more popular conversation topics – we are quite happy to discuss the private lives of our pals – with six out of ten of us merrily chatting about our friends’ relationships.
• Sex Lives – Over a third 16-24 year olds will share details of their sexual conquests and bedroom antics.

The findings come as Vodafone UK rolls out enhancements to network coverage on the Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line, which will give millions of commuters on the high speed services between London and Glasgow more time to gossip or work whether on their mobiles or laptops. But with even more time to gossip in uninterrupted bliss some of us need to watch we don’t let some of our more precious secrets slip.

• Work Secrets – More than 70% of workers talk business on the phone, including discussing colleagues and clients (43%), and company profits and losses or redundancies (19%), with scant regard for the fact a major rival or those it affects may be sitting just behind them.
• Using code - Only 6% of people use code names for people, places or projects when talking in public to protect our secrets. Over half of the mobile phone users surveyed say they always talk business on the phone in public and never switch to a more private communication channel such as email or text.
• Pinching an idea - More than a quarter of workers (26%) even confessed to following up on a lead they have overheard in someone else’s phone conversation!

Vodafone UK is improving the network coverage on all 52 of Virgin Trains’ high speed Pendolino trains by using technology that mimics the 2G and 3G coverage outside the train on board. To date Vodafone has rolled out to 20 trains and aims to complete the roll out to the Pendolino fleet by November. Already the enhancements have improved the number of calls completed without interruption by around 60%.

“Our customers tell us they want the best service possible, and need to be able to keep in touch with family, friends or colleagues when on the move. That’s why it’s reassuring to know that thanks to our investment, customers using Virgin’s Pendolino trains will not only see an improvement in making and completing a call without interruption but will also be able to more easily send and receive emails on a mobile, PDA or a laptop, when they need to protect their privacy,” said Nick Read, CEO, Vodafone UK.

Virgin Trains operates from London along the West Coast to Manchester and Glasgow, taking in major cities including Liverpool, Edinburgh and Birmingham. Over 22 million journeys are made on these services each year, 45% of which are made by businessmen and women.

For further information please contact:

Samantha Botting
Senior Vodafone Group Media Relations Consultant
01635 66 4444

Lucy Kemp or Rachel Byrne at:
Shine Communications on 020 7553 3333
lucy.kemp@shinecom.com / rachel.byrne@shinecom.com

Notes to Editors

• Survey carried out on 2,053 non work mobile phone users and 666 business users
• Full survey breakdown – gender, age, region - available on request
• Survey conducted: 21.02.08 – 25.02.08

About Vodafone UK

Vodafone UK has 18.4 million customers and is part of the world’s largest mobile community offering a wide range of voice and data communications. The company is committed to providing mobile solutions that allow both consumer and business customers to make the most of now. Vodafone customers can now use Internet on your Mobile to view and navigate web pages and their favourite sites such as YouTube, eBay and the BBC. In addition, Vodafone connects customers across the globe with roaming agreements worldwide. It provides 3G roaming in 29 countries and offers great roaming value with Vodafone Passport.

Vodafone UK falls in the top 20 Best Big Company to Work For in the Sunday Times Best Companies List, March 2008. For more information, please visit www.vodafone.co.uk.