As part of their budgeting efforts, people will need to plan ahead for higher train costs in the months to come as regulated rail fares look set to go up substantially in the new year.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that retail prices index (RPI) inflation reached a level of 5% last month.
Since 3% is added to this reading to work out how much rail fares should go up by, commuters could now face price increases of 8% in 2012.
Previously, the Government worked out regulated rail fare rises by adding 1% onto the July rate of RPI inflation.
The ONS also reported this week that July saw a consumer prices index rate of inflation of 4.4%, which was higher than June's reading of just 4.2%.
In addition to high inflation, the UK's savers are also having to contend with a record low base rate of 0.5% at present.
