There’s no such thing as a free bus ticket well not if you live in the Fair City.
The economic climate has barely risen above freezing point for the past four years but still, proud Perth residents are unwilling to accept hand-outs, a recent study discovered.
As part of a nationwide social experiment, researchers were sent out on to Britain’s streets to find out how many would accept a genuine ”freebie”.
More than 1,000 commuters were stopped on Perth’s Mill Street at the end of last month by women waving real £10 notes and wearing sandwich boards stating: ”Ask me to pay your bus fare and I will”.
However, only seven individuals took up the kind offer with many saying they were too suspicious of the motive behind it.
The experiment, conducted by Ice, ran during morning rush-hour each day for a full week in Perth, Newcastle, Manchester, Leicester and Medway in the south-east of England.
In total, just 38 people across the country accepted the cash.
Jude Thorne, CEO of Ice, said: ”Our experiment shows that, as a nation, we simply don’t accept the notion of genuine bargains, discounts and offers with no catch, despite admitting that difficult times are forcing us to seek them out actively.”
One local woman who declined the free journey explained: ”I spotted a girl waving a tenner as I was running for my bus home but thought she was either joking or going to sell me something.
”Over the past year Perth has become overrun by folk from charities trying to get you to sign up to donate you can barely walk down the High Street without getting pestered so I think that has made people more likely to just put their head down.
”I wish I’d just said yes.”