British motorists spend a year of life on parking

LONDON - Believe it or not, a survey has revealed that average motorists in Britain spend nearly a year of their lifespan looking for parking space.

Frustrated drivers lose more than six days every year touring the streets and parking lots waiting for the chance to park their cars.

The lost time adds up to 7,600 hours or more than 45 weeks, The Sun reported citing a poll of 9,000 drivers.

Residents of London lose the most, spending an average 182 hours a year searching for a spot - 54 weeks in an estimated motoring lifetime spanning 50 years - compared with a national average of 152 hours a year.

Drivers in Birmingham came second followed by Glasgow and Newcastle.

The report also said that 23 percent of drivers often ask their passenger to park for them while 44 percent admit they have lost their car after forgetting where they parked it.

An embarrassed 39 percent confessed they had attempted to get into someone else’s car after mistaking it for their own.

Jo Cooper, parking chief for NCP which carried out the poll, was quoted as saying: “Parking should be simple but in reality it is a stressful experience for most of us. There’s often a lot of pressure on us from other passengers, people waiting behind you, and then there’s the added time pressure too.”