What's the Easiest Way for Someone in the UK to Buy Bitcoins?

[cds]

Hi, I'd post this in the relevant section but alas; I am a newbie.

By "easiest" I suppose I mean the most direct / quickest route with the least number of hoops to jump through.  From what I can gather, Mt Gox requires verification and then a wire transfer to an account in Japan, which all takes time and is surprisingly expensive with international banking charges.  BTC-e seems the same, but requires transfer to a Russian account.  It also accepts OKPay, which after registering with I discovered requires an international transfer anyway.  Plus, perhaps I'm being overly cautious but I'm not sure I'd trust BTC-e as much as Mt Gox.

Speedybitcoin seems like a good option as I'm transferring from UK to UK which is fast and free, although obviously they will charge for the service.

I just want a few bitcoins to play with and get my foot in the door so to speak!  I don't expect to make any money, although that would be nice.  I'm curious!  For what it's worth, I'd also like to get my hands on some Litecoins.  Just because.

Thanks in advance.

[ds2013]

If you can do SEPA transfer you can try to find a seller at bitcoin.de

[saveawedge]

Try localbitcoins.com or bitbargain.co.uk - the prices are usually above GOX, but you pay the convenience of recieving your coins within a few hours max. I'm pretty sure bitbargain also do LTC.

[cds]

Thanks guys, I'll take a look.