Average driver will spend 32 hours a year in traffic jams, as online shopping blamed for rise in congestion

The average driver will spend 32 hours a year in traffic jams, a report has found as online shopping is blamed for the rise in congestion.

The UK was found to be the third worst country in Europe for traffic congestion, with the direct and direct costs of hold-ups reaching £31 billion last year, an average of £968 per driver.

Online shopping has contributed to the rising levels, according to analysts, with figures showing the number of delivery vans on the roads has increased in the last five years.

Ian Crowder from the AA said: "You can't go through a townscape without coming across people delivering groceries or parcels on Amazon or whatever.

"It's almost a natural thing to do nowadays and I suppose it all kicked off with Ocado who pioneered online grocery shopping and that's extended - you can buy almost anything online these days and how does that arrive? Well, it's in a van and it's emitting diesel as well which adds to concerns about diesel levels particularly in London.

"There's been a phenomenal growth in online shopping sales as well as of light commercial vehicles."

The research, from traffic information company Inrix, found drivers spend an average of 32 hours a year stuck in jams during peak periods in the UK.

The issue is worst in London, which was found to be the seventh worst city out of more than 1,000 analysed around the world. Manchester was the UK's second worst, followed by Aberdeen, Birmingham and Edinburgh.

Russia is the most congested country in Europe, followed by Turkey and the UK.

Inrix chief economist Graham Cookson 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 and helped increase congestion.

"The cost of this congestion is staggering, stripping the economy of billions, impacting businesses and costing consumers dearly.

"To tackle this problem, we must consider bold options such as remote working, wider use of road user charging and investment in big data to create more effective and intelligent transportation systems."

AA president Edmund King advised changing working habits to tackle the issue: "Employers could help ease the situation by introducing flexible working hours or home-based employment and we also need to improve the efficiency of white van deliveries as light vans are the fastest area of traffic growth."

Businesses suffer the most from traffic in Cardiff, with daytime congestion in the Welsh capital occurring 15 per cent of the time, according to the research.

Aberdeen eclipsed London for congestion at peak periods last year as the hardest city to get into or out of, with drivers stuck in gridlock 24% of the time, moving at an average speed of 5.5mph.

Outside of London, the A1 southbound from College Gardens to Wallace Park in Belfast was the most congested road corridor in the UK.

Recent figures from the Department for Transport (DfT) revealed there was a record 320.5 billion vehicle miles travelled in 2016, up 1.2 per cent on the previous year.

Last autumn the Government announced it will invest an extra £1.3 billion in local roads and transport schemes to relieve congestion and deliver upgrades.

A DfT spokesman said: "We are making the most extensive improvements to roads since the 1970s, investing a record £23 billion to keep our country moving and make journeys faster, better and more reliable for everyone."

Steve Gooding, director of motoring research charity the RAC Foundation, said: "Road congestion is a high price to pay for having a successful economy, and the risk is that gridlock starts to strangle growth.

"That is why we don't just need sustained investment, to add capacity and install better traffic management systems, we need intelligent investment."