Lancashire has been named the worst area in the country for congestion and traffic.

A study into the UK’s traffic congested areas was carried out by analysing average traffic delay times from government data between 2021 and 2022 across all local authorities.

And after collating the data, Lancashire came out worst, with an average traffic delay in seconds per vehicle per mile of 126.2 minutes - more than two hours.

Kent came second with 121 minutes, followed by Surrey with 117 minutes, Hertfordshire with 106 minutes, and Essex with 104 minutes.

Elsewhere in the North West, Manchester ranked sixth with an average delay of 97 minutes, followed by Liverpool with 96 minutes.

Outside of London, Lancashire was the local authority with the heaviest traffic, with a total delay in seconds per vehicle per mile (SPVPM) of 126.2 minutes.

Electric vehicle subscription comparison site, Car Sloth, carried out the study.

On the results, Car Sloth director, Nik Andreev, said: “During the pandemic, it felt as though rush hour was a thing of the past.

"Road traffic dropped to 1955 levels at one point, and, with it, CO2 emissions fell drastically.

"It didn’t take long for all that to be reversed, though. As the world (and roads) opened up, we saw the return of rush hour and then some.”