London ranked as most congested city in the world

London has topped the Inrix global congestion ranking, with drivers clocking up over 100 hours a year wasted in gridlock.

It is the first city in the world to surpass the 100 hour mark, with a 10 mile stretch of the A217 named as London’s most congested road for the second year running, costing drivers 110 hours, or 4.5 days, of wasted time in 2015.

UK drivers spent an average of 30 hours in congestion last year, dropping to the sixth most congested city in Europe due to a spike in traffic levels for Switzerland, with Belgium remaining Europe’s most gridlocked country.

Outside of London, Belfast saw the biggest increase, with drivers wasting around 38 hours in 2015, with Birmingham seeing the a the largest decrease, with time wasted in traffic dropping by 2.5 hours.

Inrix suggests that the congestion problems facing London are due to strong economic growth and increased urbanisation, with population numbers increasing by 100,000 over the past year.

Bryan Mistele, President & CEO of INRIX, said: “London is the victim of its own success, with a robust jobs market and a growing economy attracting more people, more construction and consequently more traffic. Transport for London is tackling this problem with its £4 billion Road Modernisation Plan. Whilst in the short term the roadworks from this initiative are frustrating for drivers, they are a step towards creating a more sustainable and modernised transport network.”

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