NORTH-EAST holidaymakers fare the worst when it comes to chatting up locals abroad, according to a survey.

Mobile phone travel insurance company Text2Insure found that Londoners were the most successful, with 38 per cent having had a fling or romantic encounter with a non-English speaking person while on holiday.

Only 17 per cent of North-East travellers have tried to use their linguistic skills to find love on foreign shores, the survey claimed.

Other groups with good chat-up lines included East Anglians and those from South East England.

Those less likely to have had a romantic encounter with the locals included Scots and people from Yorkshire and Humberside.

Spain is the country where most Britons have a holiday romance with a local, followed by France, Germany, Italy and Greece.

The survey was based on responses from 1,028 people.