More than a third of households now have two or more cars

Drivers face delays of up to five minutes per mile because of congestion caused by surging car ownership.

Figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) show that in parts of central London drivers are held up in traffic for 5 min 8 sec per mile. In Manchester, the delay is almost two minutes, the most for any city outside the capital.

The average delay on inner-city local A-roads has grown by almost 10 seconds in three years. In the same period the average speed on urban roads has dropped by almost 1 mph, from 19.3 mph to 18.4 mph, not much quicker than the average cyclist.

Motoring groups said that the figures reflected rising car numbers, a result in part of population growth and the