The ranking is based on the length of delays, weighted by the size of each city’s population.

Within the UK, Bristol was the second worst city for traffic, with 65 hours of delays per driver, ahead of Leeds in third spot (60 hours) and Manchester in fourth position after a 13% year-on-year rise in delays, from 54 hours to 61 hours.

The author of the report, Bob Pishue, said although there was a slight increase in congestion, it has “overall remained steady”.

London’s delays were attributed to the “concentration of population, employment and economic activity”.

A spokesperson for Transport for London (TfL) said: “We are committed to making sure Londoners can move around the capital as safely, sustainably and efficiently as possible.

“We support the movement of everyone across London and our investment in walking, cycling and public transport is making it easier to choose sustainable ways of travelling, helping to cut congestion.

“Our network includes some of the busiest roads in the country and we continue to invest in world-leading programmes to make sure roads are used as efficiently as possible.”