A five-mile stretch of the A51 in Chester is one of the most congested commuter routes in the north west - with drivers losing an average of 21 HOURS stuck in traffic there every year.

The stretch, from the Great Barrow turning to The Bars in Chester city centre, has an average speed of just 22mph during peak hours, according to a major new report.

The worst time of all is Friday at 5pm, when average speeds drop further to just 15mph.

A second stretch of the A51, between Broughton Gyratory and the Great Barrow turning, fares just as badly.

Average peak speeds on that 3.5-mile stretch are 21mph with an average of 15 hours lost every year.

The report found London was the most congested city in Europe, with an astonishing 101 hours wasted in traffic every year - up 5.2 hours on 2014.

Stuttgart is second (73 hours), followed by Antwerp, Cologne, Brussels, Moscow, Karlsruhe, Munich, Utrecht and Milan.

Across the UK, drivers now spend 30 hours, annually, in congestion.

We are currently the sixth most congested country in Europe. Belgium tops that list, with an average of 51 hours wasted in traffic every year.

The Netherlands is second (41 hours), Germany third (39 hours), Luxembourg fourth (34 hours) and Switzerland fifth (30 hours).

The annual report, by INRIX, is based on traffic speed data collected from more than a million miles of urban streets and highways between January and December 2015.