An old leap year custom means ladies will be able to propose to their fellas tomorrow.

The tradition - known as the Ladies Privilege - marks February 29 as they day a woman may ask her man to marry her.

According to the tradition girls tired of waiting for their loved one to pop the question will - for 24 hours at least - be able to get down on one knee themselves.

Despite this fairly rare opportunity a survey of 1,029 adults by leisure and financial service site greenbee.com shows less than half of women questioned would take up the responsibility.

And 42 per cent of men survey said they would not appreciate if their partners chose to propose.

Greenbee.com's managing director James Furse, said: "The research from greenbee.com has shown that while women may have strong ideas on what makes for the perfect proposal, when the shoe is on the other foot it is quite a different story.

"While it is of course acceptable for women to propose marriage at any time of the year, it is interesting to see that the majority of those we surveyed would favour the traditional proposal methods and wait for their partners to make the first move."