Britain’s Most Haunted Roads and the Ghostly Drivers Who Still Roam Them

Britain’s roads are rich in folklore. Drive late enough, along the right stretch of tarmac, and you’ll find tales of phantom hitchhikers, ghostly vehicles, and figures who step into headlights then vanish into nothing.

As Halloween looms, here are five of the most famous spectral road users you may want to avoid this 31st October.

1.   The Rotherhithe Tunnel Ghost (London)

Opened in 1908, the Rotherhithe Tunnel was a marvel of its day, a mile of brickwork winding beneath the Thames. It is still claustrophobic to drive: narrow, echoing, filled with fumes.

For decades, drivers have reported a sudden figure in their headlights... a pale man in oil-stained overalls, stepping out into the lane.

Some say he was a motorcyclist killed in the 1960s, others a pedestrian crushed by a lorry. Either way, his fate is replayed endlessly for the living.

Drivers brake, swerve, and curse, yet when they look back, the road is empty.

2.   The Phantom Hitchhiker of Blue Bell Hill (Kent)

Blue Bell Hill, on the A229 near Maidstone, is home to one of Britain’s most famous spectral travellers. Following a 1965 crash that killed three young women, drivers have reported picking up a beautiful, silent hitchhiker in a white dress.

She accepts a lift, directs the driver a short way, then vanishes from the back seat without a sound.

Others see her dart into the road, only for her to dissolve into thin air when struck. Police files are thick with witness statements, but no answers.

3.   The Phantom Coach of the A38 (Somerset)

On the A38 near Wellington, the past collides mystically with the present. Motorists travelling at night tell of a horse-drawn coach, complete with galloping hooves and flickering lamps, charging across the carriageway. The vision is so solid that drivers swerve to avoid collision.

Historians point to 17th-century highwaymen executed along the route, their spirits cursed to ride for eternity. The ghostly coach has become one of the South West’s most enduring road legends.

4.   The Ghost Lorry of the Highlands (Scotland)

The A9 is Scotland’s longest road, and many say its most haunted. Among the countless tales of white ladies and phantom travellers, one stands out: the ghost lorry.

Since the 1950s, motorists have described an enormous articulated lorry bearing down on them at speed, headlights blazing, horn blaring.

At the last second, it disappears, leaving the shaken driver clutching the wheel. Some link the story to a spate of lorry crashes during the post-war haulage boom.

5.   The Stockbridge Bypass Children (Derbyshire)

When the Stockbridge Bypass was under construction in the 1980s, workers reported hearing children’s laughter at night. They claimed to see small figures darting between machinery and piling stones as if at play.

Since its opening, drivers have continued to report children running across the dual carriageway, only to disappear beneath the glare of headlights.

Locals whisper that the road was built across ancient burial grounds, disturbing something best left undisturbed.

So, this Halloween, perhaps best to stay inside safe and sound, we’re not sure quite what our claims team would think if an accident report said ‘swerved to avoid a ghost...’