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Drivers in the UK spent an average of 30 hours stationary in traffic jams during 2014, real-time traffic information provider Inrix has claimed.
According to the firm's annual Traffic Scorecard Report, the UK climbed up a place to fifth in the list of Europe's most congested countries.
Inrix said that traffic congestion was up in 14 of the 18 UK metropolitan areas last year, compared to 9 in 18 in 2013. The biggest increases were seen in North Staffordshire (up by 37%) and Greater Coventry (up by 33%) where drivers were in traffic for 26 and 28 hours respectively.
The report also revealed that London is now Europe's most congested city, with drivers in the capital spending 96 hours on average in traffic, 14 hours more than in 2013. the increase was attributed to a population increase of 122,190 people.
London overtook Brussels, while Cologne, Antwerp and Stuttgart completed the top five.
The A217 in London was identified as the UK's most congested road, with a total delay per year figure of 138.6 hours. Wednesdays at 8am were also cited as being the worst time to travel on the 10.3-mile long road between Rosehill Roundabout in Sutton and New Kings Road in Fulham.
The A215 between Camberwell and Croydon, the A4 between Hounslow and Holbon Circus, the A4 between Aldwych and Hounslow and the A23 between Thornton Heath and Westminster Bridge rounded out the top-five most congested roads in the UK.
Outside of London, the most congested road in 2014 was the A8 in Edinburgh with a total delay per year figure of 49.3 hours.
Inrix said it analysed real-time data points from over a hundred sources including crowd-sourced data from commercial vehicles, such as taxis, airport shuttles, service delivery vans and long haul trucks as well as consumer vehicles and mobile devices.
Each data report from the GPS-equipped vehicles and devices includes the speed, location and heading of a particular vehicle at a reported date and time.
In creating the Traffic Scorecard, Inrix claimed it analyses information for millions of kilometres of motorways and secondary roads in Europe during every hour of the day to generate what it claims is the most comprehensive and timely congestion analysis to date, covering the largest metropolitan areas in 14 countries.
"London's continued success has made it one of the world's most popular cities in which to live, work and visit, which also makes it one of the busiest," said Transport for London's chief operating officer for surface transport, Garrett Emmerson. "We work hard to keep London's traffic moving every day, through our state of the art technology, Traffic Control Centre and focus on tackling unnecessary roadworks."
"We are seeing unprecedented increases in population and this, combined with strong economic growth and the consequent increase in building and construction, creates more traffic. To tackle this, we need continued, sustained investment to boost capacity and modernise London's road network," said Emmerson. "That's why we invest every penny of our income in improving the capital's transport network, including an unprecedented £4 billion pounds over the next few years to transform junctions, bridges, tunnels, cycling lanes and pedestrian areas."
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