Hull is officially one of the world's most congested cities

Analysis by sat-nav manufacturer TomTom shows that Hull is the fourth worst in the UK, with a typical rush hour journey taking 34 per cent longer compared with free-flow conditions.

Leeds-Bradford, where congestion worsened by two per cent over the last year, with journeys taking 27 per cent longer than free-flow conditions, was 15th worst in the UK.

TomTom believes increasing congestion on the M62 could be one reason for why there have been more traffic hold-ups on the road network in Leeds.

Sheffield, which was in 17th place in the UK, also saw a one per cent increase in congestion.

On average, UK motorists driving in peak hours spend an extra five-and-a-half days stuck in traffic each year.

Edinburgh is the worst city for congestion in the country, followed by London and Bournemouth.

In contrast Middlesbrough was found to be the least congested UK town or city analysed by TomTom.

A spokesman for Hull Council said: “Hull Council is investing more than £30m into the city’s transport network, building on a three-year programme to improve 30.5 miles of public highway, alongside substantial upgrade programmes to utilities across the city and unprecedented economic growth.

“While we have seen a significant increase in works to improve the quality of the network, our data shows congestion levels in the city have remained the same since 2017.”

Heiko Schilling, head of navigation at TomTom, said: “The UK was home to nine cities in the top 100 most congested cities globally. Overall congestion is up by an average of one per cent (year on year) in the UK - a mild increase but an increase nonetheless.

“Only Manchester, Glasgow and Portsmouth have seen congestion levels improve. These results show that there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Mr Schilling added: “Advances in journey planning, autonomous vehicles and car sharing schemes all promise to alleviate congestion in Edinburgh and other cities in the UK and around the world.”

The latest figures come amid increasing concern about levels of air pollution in the UK, which is estimated to shorten the lives of around 40,000 people a year.

In many big UK cities safe limits on harmful particulates and oxides of nitrogen are regularly breached.

Although diesel cars are much more polluting than petrol cars, gas for heating homes and offices is another source of pollution, along with buses, taxis and industry.

The TomTom Traffic index statistics are calculated from anonymized GPS data collected via navigation devices, in-dash systems and smartphones.