Congestion costs business almost £1bn

The cost of traffic congestion to UK business has risen by almost £150 million to £915m in the past year, according to TomTom.

TomTom’s Traffic Index found that traffic across the UK’s 25 most congested cities and towns increases the time each vehicle spends on the road by an average of 129 hours a year (up from 127), which means an average commercial vehicle driver wastes more than 16 working days while sat in traffic.

This translates to an approximate loss of £915,239,5202 for businesses across the country.

And, says TomTom, traffic has been getting continuously worse since 2010, with an average journey now taking 30 per cent longer than it would in free-flowing conditions, up from 25 per cent.

“Traffic remains a serious issue for business and the resulting delays have potential implications for productivity, customer service standards and even employee wellbeing,” said Beverley Wise, director UK & Ireland for TomTom Telematics.

“Technology such as telematics can help in the move towards a more dynamic model of routing and scheduling that uses data on traffic and journey times to develop plans that minimise time on the road and can be quickly adapted in reaction to delays or changing circumstances.”