The UK has some of the world’s most congested cities, find two reports

Two separate reports rank the UK as one of the most congested countries in the world.

The latest TomTom Traffic Index named the UK as the second most congested country (by cities) in the world during 2016 behind first place China.

TomTom’s Traffic Index, which looked at data from 390 cities in 48 countries, placed 11 UK cities in its top 100 ranking of the most congested.

This comprises Belfast, Edinburgh, London, Manchester, Brighton, Bournemouth, Sheffield, Hull, Bristol, Newcastle and Leicester. Only China had more cities (21) in TomTom’s top 100.

The UK’s worst congestion levels, according to TomTom, were recorded in Belfast, followed by Edinburgh and then London, with UK drivers spending on average an extra five days per year stuck in traffic.

However, the Inrix Traffic Scorecard for 2016 rated London as the seventh most congested city in the world and the second most congested city in Europe behind Moscow (not Belfast).

Inrix, which analysed and ranked traffic congestion in 1,064 cities across 38 countries, estimated London drivers spent an average of 73 hours in gridlock during peak hours in 2016, with congestion costing the capital £6.2bn in 2016.

According to Inrix, Manchester, Aberdeen, Birmingham and Edinburgh are, alongside London, the UK's most congested cities (Belfast was only 27th in the UK and outside Inrix's global top 100 in contrast to TomTom's findings).

London has improved its world ranking, falling from fifth place globally in 2015 to seventh in 2016, while Manchester fell from 32nd to 46th place and Birmingham from 87th to 115th in the same period.

Graham Cookson, Inrix chief economist, said: “Despite Brexit, 2016 saw the UK economy remaining stable, fuel prices staying low and employment growing to an 11-year high, all of which incentivises road travel.”

He added that the cost of congestion was “staggering”, stripping the UK economy of billions of pounds a year, and called for “bold options” such as remote working, greater road user charging and the development of intelligent transportation systems.