From the
Telegraph:
The strapping young army officer did not hesitate when he saw 22-year-old Claire Hayhurst struggling with a heavy suitcase.
Already carrying his bicycle with one hand Lt George Goucher, 25, scooped up the luggage with his other hand and lifted it up the steps at Bath Spa station.
What Lt Goucher, from the 3rd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment, did not know is that he was one of many people unwittingly taking part in a Sunday Telegraph study to test claims by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an international think tank, that the British are among the most helpful people in the world. "Helping others is a very British thing," he said, pleased to have been "caught" in an act of kindness. "We are brought up to do what we can."
The OECD report, published last week, placed Britain near the top of an international league table of "kindness" after asking people if they had volunteered, given money to charity or helped a stranger over the last month - what it called "pro-social behaviour".
This newspaper tested the "helpfulness" of British people in three cities - London, Bath and Durham - and in three ways.
We wanted to find out if they would help a young researcher carry a suitcase up a flight of steps; help a "lost" visitor with directions; and allow a traveller "in a hurry" to jump the queue at a taxi rank or train station.
Britons passed the suitcase test with flying colours. In each city the researcher was helped within minutes - often within seconds - by a stream of generous-spirited people.
Although some hard-hearted types glanced shiftily at the suitcase and walked straight past, many people, even workers rushing back to the office after lunch, or hurrying to catch a train themselves, still found time to show the kindness of strangers.
No teenagers offered their services but the helpers' ages ranged from 22 to 59, with most in their 40s and 50s.
About a third were women. In London, 55-year-old Caroline Berrick, a science technician from Brighton, was quick to help 20-year old Katie Kibbler, a student, haul her suitcase up a daunting flight of steps off Pall Mall, a task that left most helpers out of breath. "If I see someone struggling I will help and I think most British people are the same," she said.
In Bath, Alison Pegg, 40, from Cirencester, told her two young children to carry on walking up the steps while she offered assistance to Miss Hayhurst.
Some traditionally-minded men saw it as an act of gallantry to help women struggling with heavy luggage.
"Chivalry is not dead and one should always help a damsel in distress", said Philip Beard, 49, from Wandsworth, who works in sports marketing. "Plus it only takes a few minutes and it's a good bit of exercise."
In Durham, John Parkin, 56, a civil servant, was walking in the opposite direction when he spotted our researcher Zoe Beaty, 23, with two heavy suitcases. He turned back and carried both suitcases up the flight of 35 steps leading to the train station. "It's appropriate and accurate that Britain is described as one of the more helpful countries," he said. "We're a nation of gentlemen and women. There are a few that aren't - they let Britain down. But the majority are very kind."
Stewart Davidson, 30, a BT worker who helped Miss Beaty, said: "Most of us have fantastic manners in Britain. We get a lot of bad press so it's good that we've been commended for some of the little things that matter."
The British also triumphed in the "directions test" when the researchers stood, map in hand, looking lost in a strange city and waiting for somebody to help.
It took longer, however, for help to be offered in London - nine minutes, compared with a maximum of five in Bath and Durham.
Most people who came to their aid said they empathised with the "lost traveller" because they had been in that situation themselves. Linda Bevan, 46, a teacher from Bath, said: "I have been helped out so many times and it's nice to reciprocate."
In Durham, PC Brendan Barton, 40, was quick to help with directions. "Britain is definitely one of the kinder countries," he said. "But people are friendlier and more helpful in the North than in the South and especially London."
As if to prove the point, two Northerners, David Hodgson, a social worker, and his wife Lynn, both 53, from Consett, Co Durham, and regular visitors to London, said they had already had a busy day helping others in the capital before giving directions to Miss Kibbler. "We helped a woman with a buggy go down steps on the Embankment and found a lost child in the Tate gallery," Mr Hodgson said proudly.
But the third test proved to be the hardest for the British. Asking them to allow somebody to jump a queue because they were "in a hurry" provoked a conflict between the desire to be helpful and the British view that the queue, symbol of order and civilised behaviour, is sacrosanct.
At train stations and taxi ranks people were reluctant to relinquish their place in the line.
"You are very rude," one surly man said to Miss Hayhurst in Bath.
A middle-aged woman opined: "You should have got here earlier. We all have to wait so why shouldn't you?"
Miss Hayhurst said: "People have been helpful all day but it looks like, for the British, jumping the queue is beyond the pale."
And at least the researchers were helped with their suitcases and directions - although they were all young women.
Our reporter was steadfastly ignored.
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