Martin lewis in retirement bombshell: 'don't know how much longer'

The 48-year-old, awarded an OBE for his services to customers' rights and his charity work, has worked tirelessly across the past 20 years to help consumers ensure they have not been

overcharged or left financially out of pocket. Through his website MoneySavingExpert.com, Mr Lewis was able to help customers get money back after they were wrongly charged in numerous

scandals including bank charges like miss-sold Payment Protection Insurance. But after decades in the industry, including stints supporting consumers on programmes like ITV's 'This

Morning', Mr Lewis revealed he was "exhausted" after a year that saw the nation swept into financial ruin. BBC Radio 4's Lauren Laverne asked Mr Martin how much the

public have relied on him after the UK and citizens faced "great financial insecurity" following the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic. Mr Lewis explained that it "feels

to me like it did when I first set up the website" and that he was completely focused on supporting consumers. He told listeners: "We're in an economic cataclysm as well as

the health issues we've got. Economically we've never seen anything like it. "The work that I've done for the last 20 years has been building almost up to this and

suddenly here I am. I feel like this is the position I've been put in." Mr Lewis then revealed he felt it was his duty to work "70 or 90 hour weeks" to ensure the public

got the support they needed as pressure builds on families and their finances. He said it was down to someone like him who is "outside the Westminster political bubble, but is still in

touch with that bubble and is in touch with what's going on with real people's lives to be able to put their point across, find the information for them and fight their

corner". He added: "Social media has been very helpful for doing that. "I've had well over 100,000 questions in the past five or six weeks via TV, or my other website or

the social media forum. JUST IN: MARTIN LEWIS: SPAIN HOLIDAY RIGHTS EXPLAINED The consumer finance information website provides the public with reliable information on saving money in the

form of deals, tips and journalistic articles. Mr Lewis told the Telegraph in 2015: "I spent £80 to set up a website in 2003. It’s called moneysavingexpert.com. It was built by a chap

in Uzbekistan, off-the-peg, with forums, and in only two weeks." He added: "I set it up because I thought the information should be out there, not to make money. It was only when

the server costs became too expensive that I thought I should look at that. "In the end, it’s turned £80 into more than nine figures, after tax. You also have to factor in the 90-hour

weeks and the huge amounts of stress. "Now people make the mistake of saying ‘you’re rich now that you’ve sold the website’. But they don’t realise I was lucky, I’d already made a lot

before that."