End of the road signalled for hitchhiking

The number of drivers unlikely to stop for hitchhikers has risen from 75 per cent to 91 per cent in the last two years, the poll of 16,850 AA members showed.

Just one per cent of drivers have hitched themselves in the last year and only one per cent said they were “very likely” to stop for someone thumbing a lift.

More than three in five said they had never hitched, including 75 per cent of females, 93 per cent of 18-24 year olds and 88 per cent of 25-34 year olds.

But as few as 48 per cent of those aged 55-65 and 52 per cent of those over 65 have never tried it.

Drivers living in the Yorkshire and Humber region were least likely to have hitchhiked (67 per cent have never done it), closely followed by the North West (66 per cent) and the East Midlands (66 per cent).

Drivers in East Anglia and the North West, where only five per cent were very or quite likely to stop to give someone a lift, were the ones most reluctant to pick up those hitching.

Those wanting a ride would do best to try their luck in Wales where as many as 12 per cent of drivers were very or quite likely to pick them up.

AA president Edmund King, a former hitchhiker, said: “Sadly we appear to have reached the end of the road for hitchhiking.”