Why is £500 for a new turbo unacceptable just because of the age of the car? The same process goes into making it now that did 10 years ago...if anything it should be more expensive with inflation lol. I assume its a VNT turbo, with very tight tolerances and fine balancing to make massive pressure and power etc...its not an agricultural old 306 GT15! 
I don't believe labour is £30 an hour unless you're stuck in the 90s. Cheapest round here is £50 an hour.
Turbo's don't last forever, usually due to human error (not letting oil warm up and circulate before thrashing, not letting turbo spin down, poor servicing, etc). It's just something you have to accept can fail at some point, and hopefully not under your ownership. Tbh, this is why I didn't buy a car that was 10 years old with 130k this time...chances of killing a turbo by 50k are much less, but I'm well aware it could happen at any point, just have to accept the uncertainty tbh.
I don't believe labour is £30 an hour unless you're stuck in the 90s. Cheapest round here is £50 an hour.
Turbo's don't last forever, usually due to human error (not letting oil warm up and circulate before thrashing, not letting turbo spin down, poor servicing, etc). It's just something you have to accept can fail at some point, and hopefully not under your ownership. Tbh, this is why I didn't buy a car that was 10 years old with 130k this time...chances of killing a turbo by 50k are much less, but I'm well aware it could happen at any point, just have to accept the uncertainty tbh.