Any question answered...

An expensive proper Tefal frying pan will last forever, as long as you take care of it.
Use a soft plastic or wooden utensils.
Cheap pans are not worth the money. Shit will stick to them.

+1. Maybe not actually forever, but...

There's also the environmental cost of buying a pan every year.

And £1-2 pans may be cheap to you but they generally come at a price for someone/somewhere else in the world.