Britons willing to queue for no longer than 5 minutes and 54 seconds

For a university academic has released a paper revealing new insights and specific time limits when it comes to Britain’s longstanding love affair with queuing. 

Commissioned by Privilege Insurance, Adrian Furnham, a Professor of Psychology at University College London and expert in behavioural psychology, has revealed the maximum length of time British people will queue for, the ideal queue length, environment and amount of personal space needed. 

The average person is willing to wait in line for just five minutes and 54 seconds before leaving the queue, dispelling the myth that Britain is a nation of queuing enthusiasts.

What is more, people are unlikely to join a queue that has more than six people in it. 

One stereotype that does seem to hold true, however, is British grit. When it comes to queue commitment, the likelihood of individuals leaving a queue becomes almost non-existent if the number of people behind them has grown to six people or more. 

The report also revealed that a six inch radius is the minimum amount of personal space that needs to be afforded to a person in a queue, to avoid increasing stress or anxiety. 

The ideal queuing environment is a lowly lit, green or blue room, lightly fragranced with an unexpectedly grandiose infusion of herbs and spices, such as lavender, sagebrush and nutmeg.

To keep queuers as calm as possible, staff must also be visibly busy and working to reduce the queue length, with well-known upbeat pop music playing in the background. 

Dan Simson, the head of Privilege Home Insurance said: “Privilege acknowledges Britain’s quirks, providing no-nonsense, good quality insurance for everyone.

“The UK is known for its queue culture, so we conducted this research to understand a little bit more about our habits and social norms.”

Professor Adrian Furnham, University College London, said: “The British have a well-established culture of queuing and a very specific type of queue conduct, one that has been known to confuse many a foreign visitor. 

“In a time when Britain is changing rapidly, and the ways in which we queue are shifting, the psychology behind British queuing is more important than ever – it a one of the keys to unlocking British culture.”