WITH love in the air in Bolton today spare a thought for the six per cent of people in the North West in long-distance relationships who have never met their partners.

According to a recent YouGov poll, more than one in three people in the region are in a long-distance relationship and 38 per cent have had one.

The most common reason for people being in a long-distance romance was the couple living in separate locations when they met and continuing to do so.

Feeling a lack of trust between partners was found to be the least of people’s concerns in the North West, although one in 10 did say they found infidelity to be.

Lack of physical intimacy was the most challenging aspect of long-distance relationships according to the region’s respondents, with more men than women saying this was the case.

Sadly only 27 per cent UK couples in long-distance relationships survived.

But as a great poet once very nearly said: “It is better to have love online than never to have loved at all.”