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In article ,
(s--p--o--n--i--x) writes:

They called up an electrician who quoted an extortionate price. The
explaination given was that he could only take one spur off a single
socket, hence the cost involved with running cables from two existing
sockets.

However, I have had a look and the ring main runs below where the new
sockets are to be placed. It looks like a 30 minute job to be honest.

Whilst he is correct in saying that you can only take a single spur
off of an individual socket,

Actually he's wrong on this point. There may be specific reasons
in this case such as not enough wiring space in the back box or
not enough space in the terminals (easily solvable by replacing
the socket with a different make) or grossley loading the ring
very near one end, but there's no rule stating that you can only
take one spur from one socket. I sounds like he's got confused
about the recommendation on the total number of spurs on a ring
circuit, which makes no reference to their placement.

why can't he simply extend the ring main?

You would have to ask him. However, it sounds like you would be
better off finding a different electrician -- he might have
simply not wanted the job.

--
Andrew Gabriel