Thousands of new road signs are to be installed to guide people to coronavirus vaccination centres following an agreement between the AA and the Government.

This follows requests from smaller centres which wanted to make it easier for road users to find them.

The AA believes that, while the locations of hospitals, pharmacies and GP surgeries are often well known to local residents, temporary vaccination sites in non-medical locations can be harder to find for many people.

The motoring services firm provided nearly 2,000 free signs to vaccination centres across the UK earlier this year when the widespread rollout of coronavirus jabs began.

AA president Edmund King discussed deploying more signs as part of the booster programme with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, before securing an agreement with the Cabinet Office.

Mr King said: “The AA has been producing road signs to guide drivers for over 100 years, so we knew straight away that using this expertise was a unique way for us to offer further help in the national booster vaccination effort.

“Everyone at the AA has been eager to do what we can to help local communities through this time.

“Our patrols have been working hard throughout to continue helping drivers who break down, and now we are pleased to be guiding road users on two wheels or four with directions to these very important destinations.”

Mr Shapps said: “I’m pleased to announce our agreement with the AA, who will support us with the booster vaccination effort in helping provide signs directing people to vaccination centres.

“Their expertise will help people reach their centre, contributing to the already huge national effort under way to get more people vaccinated and to support the booster vaccination programme.”