Hitchhiking

mad_rich

Saturnalia wrote: »

And TBH, you can get coach tickets for £1 with National Express & Megabus, so trying to hitch doesn't seem worth the faff or the money-saving.

Actually, the way fares are going now, hitching seems more attractive than ever.

Advance prices are going down, but walk-up prices are insane. If you can't book in advance you may as well try hitching. Just turn up and go...

Saturnalia

mad_rich wrote: »

Actually, the way fares are going now, hitching seems more attractive than ever.

Advance prices are going down, but walk-up prices are insane. If you can't book in advance you may as well try hitching. Just turn up and go...

I agree the on-the-day tickets are pretty hefty, but booking in advance is still good value. They still do the £1 tickets and if you miss those, the next stages are £5 and £8 each way.

Of course, that's irrelevant if it's a spur-of-the-moment choice or sudden necessity to travel.

Gloomendoom

I used to hitchhike a fair bit in my teens and twenties so, on the odd occasion I do see someone hitching I do tend to stop. The last time, I was in my old Land Rover and the young lad I picked up was clearly uneasy about the lack of seat belts. I think he was relieved to get out.

no_summer_here

I have given a lift to hitchhikes in the past, can't say I have seen many/any in the last twenty years.
Many years ago I pulled into a service station on the road from Carlisle to Glasgow in a MGB roadster, and was asked for a lift from a man and woman in their twenties. When I pointed out the lack of seats he said it was his turn to travel on the parcel shelf !
I replied with the fact that it was raining and that we would be traveling at over 100MPH. At that point he thought better of it.

sgun

I used to hitch a fair bit, often the length of the country, in fact I was only refused a lift once and the man explained he didn't accept lone women. He was very reasonable about it and I could see his point. I stopped hitching after a very dodgy incident which I won't go into here but it did open my eyes up to the dangers which I did know about but had decided to ignore. I do know of others who have come to a bit of grief but none of us ever reported it so I suppose you wouldn't hear about it. My take was that I had put myself in danger so it was my own fault really.(never put your backpack in the boot, you need to be able to run if necessary!) I would hitch again but I think people would be much more reluctant these days to pick up a hitcher as we live in a more cynical world. I would accept a hitcher if they look genuine. Maybe I am still a bit stupid!

Lum

When I was doing a lot of business travelling, I'd pick up trade platers, they're pretty safe, just people with a crappy job trying to earn a living. If nothing else it was someone to chat to and relieve the boredom. On one memorable occasion I got them to drive so that I could get some sleep.

I'd be rather nervous about picking up anyone else, sorry but if you're a 7 foot tall burly bloke with a skinhead and a rucksack large enough to hide a couple of axes and an automatic rifle I'm probably not going to pick you up.

An exception to the above rule is if I see someone walking down the road (or motorway) with a fuel can. We've all been there.

One top tip I got from trade platers is to try and look clean, and if it's raining use an umbrella, people will rather leave you soaking in the rain than get their seats wet.

Joe_Horner

I'll generally stop if I'm on my own, but not if my partner or anyone else is in the car.

Partly because she doesn't like the idea, but more because if it does turn out to be an axe wielding maniac they have someone else but me to threaten.

If I'm on my own, they're welcome to try and attack me as I'm doing 100 + down country lanes, with a manic grin on my face, on my way to doing donuts in front of the nearest police station

rev_henry

When I was a kid my father would usually pick people up if he saw them, which wasn't very often! When he was about my age I believe he used to have competitions with friends to arrive somewhere first by hitching! He also said the trade platers would be paid the cost of a train ticket back, so would try to save that for themselves by hitching - sounds reasonable! I'd possibly trust such a person more given they were trusted to drive someone elses car across the country!

Never really seen one when driving myself but would consider stopping depending on whether I liked the look of them. Probably be more comfortable doing so if I already had a mate or two in the car.

Never done it myself but would be quite fun to!

On the subject of trouble, does anyone remember those Swedish twins who ran out in front of cars on the motorway? It was on traffic cops a while ago. IIRC hitch hiking was implicated somehow with the poor chap they later stabbed. Not wishing to alarm anyone there!

londonTiger

never in london.

once a guy from eastern europ was insisting on a lift, even stopped on the road the get me to stop. i nodded my head no and swerved out.

dacouch

londonTiger wrote: »

never in london.

once a guy from eastern europ was insisting on a lift, even stopped on the road the get me to stop. i nodded my head no and swerved out.

The nod may have confused him