Blue is the most popular car colour with drivers, an AA/Populus survey showed.

However a number of motorists end up with their second-choice colour, the poll of 15,860 AA members revealed.

The survey results came as the new 61-plate registration numbers went on sale. Given a choice of colour, drivers opted first for blue, followed by silver, black and red.

Hardly anyone voted for a brown car, although about 1% of those polled own a vehicle of that hue. The most popular colour already owned, as opposed to wished for, was silver followed by blue, black and red.