Congestion on the UK's roads cost the economy £7.9bn last year - at an average of £1,317 per driver, research has found.

In London, jams cost the average road user up to £1,680 in 2018, while drivers in Edinburgh lost £1,219 each.

Manchester and Leicester were the next most congested cities on the list, with road users losing more than £1,100 in each.

Liverpool was the least congested city in the study by transport data firm Inrix, which estimated the annual congestion bill in the city at £878 per driver.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, London and Edinburgh were found to be the UK's slowest cities, with motorists crawling into their central areas at an average of 7mph in peak time.


The A406, known as the North Circular, around London was found to be the most congested UK road.

The average driver wasted 61 hours in congestion during 2018 on the stretch of the A406 between the Chiswick Roundabout and Hangar Lane.

In total, London had five of the top ten worst roads for hold-ups, while Birmingham and Leeds had two each and Manchester one.

The A23 in south London came next, with motorists delayed by an average of 56 hours per year between Kennington and Thornton Road.

Drivers wasted an average of 44 hours on part of the Leeds Road in West Yorkshire and a stretch of the A34 in Birmingham.

:: The UK's 10 most congested roads

London A406 North Circular Road Chiswick Roundabout to Hanger Lane

London A23 Kennington to Thornton Road

London Kingsway/Strand/Fleet/Cannon Street to Russell Square to Monument

Leeds Leeds Road/Saltaire Road to Harrogate Road to Bradford Road

Birmingham A34/Stratford Road to Highfield Road to Highgate Middleway

London A406/North Circular Road to A1 to A10

London A2103 Canary Warf to Tower of London

Birmingham A34/Stratford Road to Highgate Middleway to Highfield Road

Leeds Huddersfield Road/Leeds Road to Dewsbury to Huddersfield

Manchester Bury New Road to Higher Broughton to M60

Slow-moving traffic is estimated to damage the economy in a number of ways; such as making it harder to transport goods, reduced productivity, raised pollution and increased accident levels.

Inrix transportation analyst Trevor Reed said: "Congestion costs Britons billions of pounds each year... it is increasingly obvious that authorities need to adapt."

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: "Last year, UK drivers told us they are actually becoming more, not less reliant on using their cars - with struggling public transport cited as one of the reasons."

Some consolation for Londoners came in the fact that their city is not the world's most gridlocked.

Moscow tops the list when population is taken into account, ahead of Istanbul, Bogota and Mexico City, with London in sixth place.