The National Queuing Standards Advisory has revised its core conduct guidelines after an analysis of observed queue behaviour found that individuals occupying positions two through seven are significantly more likely to exhibit what the body classifies as Forward Attention Drift than those at the front or the back.
The updated guidance, published following a 14-month observational study conducted across retail, transport, and leisure settings, introduces a revised three-tier conduct framework for queues exceeding five persons in length. Under the code, queue members are assigned a standing classification at entry — Committed, Positioned, or Ambient — based on their proximity to the front, inter-person gap consistency, and what the report describes as evident intention to remain.
Individuals classified as Ambient — typically defined as those more than four positions from the front who have adopted a sideways stance or begun consulting their phone for intervals exceeding thirty seconds — will be considered to have entered a Soft Exit Window, during which their position is technically held but no longer assured. The Soft Exit Window does not activate a formal notification; the affected individual is expected to infer it from context.
A fourth classification, Positional Ambiguity, covers queue members who have joined with apparent commitment but whose bag placement or lateral gaze suggests they may be assessing rather than committing. The guidance notes that Positionally Ambiguous individuals represent the single largest category of mid-queue complaints received by participating venues during the study period, and that resolution without direct verbal engagement remains unlikely. Direct verbal engagement, the Advisory added, is not recommended.
The revised code also introduces updated gap management standards. Queues with an average inter-person gap of more than 1.1 metres are now formally designated a Loose Formation, which does not invalidate the queue but may attract a Gap Notice from a retailer or venue, should any staff member have completed the relevant awareness module. Uptake of the module among participating sites was confirmed at under four per cent.
A supplementary provision addresses what the report terms Premature Forward Lean — defined as a posture shift toward the front of the queue adopted more than eight seconds before the person ahead has cleared their position. The Advisory stopped short of classifying this as a breach, describing it instead as a contextual signal that venues are encouraged to log without acting upon.
A digital pre-registration scheme, intended to allow individuals to join queues remotely and receive a virtual position before arriving at the venue, was piloted at three sites in the East Midlands before being paused. The Advisory confirmed that the pre-registration process itself attracted a separate queue at two of the three pilot locations, which it described as outside the scope of the original study and referred to a working group with no confirmed reporting date.
The body said it expected venues to implement the updated guidance at their discretion. No compliance mechanism is currently in place. A consultation on whether a compliance mechanism would be appropriate closed last autumn, and its findings are under review.
