This is the hilarious video that shows a YouTube prankster trying to jump the queue at two of the UK’s top tourist attractions – using a range of techniques.
Vlogger Zac Alsop went to the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth and Warwick Castle to see how easy it is to cut in line without anyone telling him to go to the back of the queue.
The 22-year-old tried a number of ploys to get to the front of the line including confusing people, distracting them and even asking for their permission – with a range of reactions.
YouTube prankster Zac Alsop trying to push to the front of the queue by asking for permission at the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth
Zac also tried to confuse customers by looking through binoculars and just walking to the front
Another technique Zac tried was to just apologise and skirt around people
The video begins with Zac going to the Spinnaker Tower armed with a consent form that he asks people to sign to give their permission for him to cut in front of them.
And surprisingly the two women he asks are bemused but happy to sign his form and let him move closer to the front.
His next trick is to confuse his fellow queuers.
He does this by wandering into the ticket office looking through a pair of binoculars right up to the ticket counter – leaving customers scratching their heads.
Next he tries simply being brazen and just skirts around people in line and apologises for squeezing past them.
Remarkably, despite their confusion he manages to get all the way to the front without anybody stopping him.
Later in the video he heads to Warwick Castle to carry out the same prank and his first technique is distraction.
At Warwick Castle, Zac tries the distraction technique. He points out something in the distance and then sneaks in front of this couple
The last technique Zac tries at Warwick Castle is just to walk to the front of the queue while talking on his phone and blocking out the rest of the people
However, when Zac gets to the front after cutting in, two ladies at the front confront him
Zac points out a non-existent giant horse to the couple in front of him in the line and when they turn to look, he shoves himself in front of them, and unbelievably the pair just let him.
However, his last technique of ‘blocking people out’ and talking on his phone and going around them doesn’t fare so well.
When he gets to the front of the queue one lady calls him out and he is forced to move to the back of the line.
The video with Zac was commissioned by travel website TripAdvisor, as part of wide-ranging research into British queue etiquette.
The video with Zac was commissioned by travel website TripAdvisor, as part of wide-ranging research into British queue etiquette
It conducted a study that found that the younger generation – 18-to-24-year-olds are more than twice as likely to jump a queue compared to baby boomers, those aged 50 to 65.
The research also showed that two thirds (67 per cent) of baby boomers consider queue cutting the height of bad manners, compared to more than a quarter (28 per cent) of younger people.
Baby boomers are also twice as likely to confront a queue jumper in the act than they are to let it slide.
This is in stark contrast to the younger generation, with more than a third of 18-24-year-olds taking a ‘no worries’ attitude to someone cutting in front of them.
The study found that the younger generation of 18 to 24-year-olds are more than twice as likely to push in front compared to baby boomers, aged 50 to 65
Behavioural psychologist and queuing expert Professor Adrian Furnham said: ‘Queues can only operate smoothly when everyone understands and abides by the same social rules, but increasingly we’re seeing a younger generation willing to bend those rules, and an older generation willing to confront them when they do.
‘As this generational gap widens, it will be harder to maintain the social and cultural norms that dictate what it means to queue “the British way”. In the next 50 years, the British queue as we know it could be dead.’
The video starring Zac was also part of TripAdvisor’s research – it was a social experiment to see what people’s reactions would be to queue-jumping, with Zac asked to test the most common queue jump techniques Brits confessed to in the study.
Hayley Coleman from TripAdvisor said: ‘The British love of queuing is a cliché we all know, but in truth most of us hate being stuck in a queue – yet we spend two to three days a year waiting in line.
‘So if you want to save time and skip a queue this summer, the message is simple: book online, and in advance.
‘This is easier to do than many people think – TripAdvisor has more than 100,000 experiences, tours and activities available to book online – and you’ll even avoid the wrath of the dreaded hard stare from your fellow queuers.’