This is totally untrue. As someone from the north of england, now living in London I would say <5% of people I went to school with took a 'gap year'. In London

This is totally untrue. As someone from the north of england, now living in London I would say <5% of people I went to school with took a 'gap year'. In London I would put that number closer to 25%, but that says more about the type of people that move to London than it does about Europeans in general.