Six of the top 10 bankruptcy hotspots in the UK are in the South West, according to the credit reference agency Experian. It is suggested the chasm between income and house prices may be to blame along with the escalating cost of pasties and petrol. Torquay tops the poll of bankruptcies per head in the UK. Other skintspots include Plymouth, Barnstaple and Newton Abbot in Devon, in Dorset Bournemouth and Weymouth and Truro in Cornwall. The south west is well-known for its problem with pathitcally low wages, caused partly by the decline in traditional work and vigorous pasty munching. Professor Peter Gripaios from the Plymouth Business School told the Pasty Muncher: "Of course I'd say it's partly a reflection of the low wages. "What goes with that is the house prices driven up by people moving down here, or those buggers with second homes - that makes it very hard." But the South West Chamber of Spin and Commerce said, despite areas of appalling deprivation, the local economy was generally doing really rather well. | 
