Helen, I wish your tailgater trick worked in Ireland - here the only thing that works is to pull to the side and let them pass. In Connemara, especially, there seem to be a lot of people with some kind of secret homosexual yearnings who hang on to the arse of any car in front.

LesB, may I suggest that you get a small flag of whatever nation you're in and attach it to the car? The emotional response, at whatever subfusc level, is going to alert drivers to the fact that this is a car, and not a piece of car-shaped empty space, that they're backing towards.