Organic wine buff and environmentalist Peter Jackson offsets all his carbon
emissions – but admits to travelling around European vineyards in his
beloved gas-guzzling Aston Martin DB7.
“We pay money to Pure, the clean
planet trust to offset all our carbon emissions in our house and through
our travel. Last year it cost a total of £162. I think it’s important to
protect the planet for future generations,” said Jackson, 63.
“But my one extravagance is the Aston Martin. The best trip I ever did was a
recent one visiting vineyards in France and Italy, which were in disparate
places, so it would have been impossible to travel by public transport. I
think we did 4,000 miles and the car did 22 miles to the gallon, which is
not that bad. The only limiting factor was that we didn’t have the space to
bring back samples. But my offset charge of £162 included the car mileage
and my other vehicle is a smart car, so I don’t feel that bad.”
Jackson runs several companies from his base in the Lake District, including Organico,
which imports and sells organic wine. The total family business turns over
in excess of £7 million a year and Jackson travels to France, Italy and
occasionally long-haul destinations on business.
Are you careful about the amount of travel you do?
I used to do a huge amount in a previous job and I feel that I’ve done that
and bought the t-shirt. We run an ethical business and are sensible about
the amount of travel we do, but I wouldn’t say we take a particular slant on
the way we travel. I take no-frills flights, particularly because they tend
to go some of the lesser known destinations in Europe which we need to get
to.
Which UK airports do you use?
We’re based in the Lake District, so we use Liverpool
Airport to go to places like Pisa and Verona. We often use Ryanair
and I’ve got no problem with them, in fact I think they’ve got a fantastic
concept. I’m 6 ft 4 inches and a lot of cheap flights can be inhumane, but
to be fair, the seat pitch on Ryanair is not so bad. I like people-watching
at airports, especially the Ryanair passengers. There tends to be a big rush
as people try to get to the seats of their choice.
Do you ever travel by train?
We do, and this year there is a fantastic organic wine fair in Perpignan and
we’re going to try to get there by train. The Eurostar
switch to St Pancras is great and Virgin
Trains is now doing trips from Carlisle to Paris, which is useful for us
up north. We also love the TGV in France.
If necessary, we might fly to Paris and then get the TGV from there.
What about train travel in the UK?
The problem is that it’s so expensive. If you look at the TGV, it costs around
£99 one way in first class from Paris to Perpignan, which is about a
five-hour trip. Fantastic. What would five hours in a train, first class,
across England cost? You’ve got to make the best use of your senior citizen
card and book at certain times to get any kind of deal. It can be done, but
it’s difficult.
