The UK’s best towns and cities for drivers revealed

Drivers in Dundee enjoy the UK’s most car-friendly society ranked on cost and convenience, new research from Virgin Money Car Insurance shows. The Scottish city edged out competition from rivals Aberdeen, Telford, Ipswich and Dudley.

Welsh capital Cardiff emerged as the worst place to drive ahead of Nottingham, London, Leeds and Slough in the national research project now in its second year.

Virgin Money Car Insurance researchers rated the UK’s major towns and cities by population on a range of criteria including petrol prices; number of car park spaces; the cost of parking for two hours; the number of speed cameras on main roads into the town or city and the level of car crime. This year the extent of congestion in each town or city was also included.

The unique project then allotted points for towns and cities based on their ranking, with vehicle crime and the number of car parking spaces weighted to reflect the population in order to produce the list of 64 cities and towns.

Dundee performed consistently across most categories but was particularly strong for the cheapest car parking and the number of car parking spaces per 1,000s of population. It was also among the cheapest for petrol. Dundee was rated the most car-friendly city last year.

Cardiff held on to its unenviable position as the least car-friendly city in the UK. The Welsh capital scored particularly badly for its lack of car parks and for the level of car crime.

Philip Hale, spokesman for Trafficmaster, which provided congestion data for the study, said: “Despite being a nation of car lovers, none of us enjoy the experience of sitting in traffic. A truly car-friendly city shouldn’t have major congestion problems.

“While Dundee does see congestion on the A90, in general the city centre has no major problems with most traffic directed towards the waterfront. Cardiff however, is next to the busy M4 motorway, which won’t have helped its cause in lifting itself off the bottom of the Car Friendly tables.”

Jason Wyer-Smith of Virgin Money Car Insurance said: “With more than 23 million UK drivers it’s clear that we are in love with the car and spend a considerable amount of time in them.

“Unfortunately time spent driving is not always the most pleasant and our research shows the driving experience varies widely across the country. Every motorist will have their own definition of driving hell whether it’s hunting for a parking space, being stuck in a traffic jam or being caught by a speeding camera for a momentary lapse. Our research attempts to show which cities and towns are best and worst for drivers.”

Jason Wyer-Smith added: “There are bound to be drivers in Dundee who cannot believe their city should top the list just as there will be people in Cardiff who love driving there.

“However the research is an attempt to quantify what makes a town or city car-friendly and what doesn’t and it should be a guide to people moving location or planning trips on what to expect when they get there.”

The most expensive place to park is London where a two-hour stay in a car park costs an average £11 while the capital also has the most speed cameras on major routes into the city and, despite the Congestion Charge, is worst for traffic jams. However, other more surprising towns among the worst for congestion include Hull, Glasgow and Huddersfield.

The worst for petrol prices is Stoke ahead of Southend and Cambridge. Drivers in Abderdeen, Ipswich, Derby, Dundee and Edinburgh pay the least to fill up.

Car parking is toughest in Leeds, Nottingham and Cardiff which have the least number of parking spaces per head of population while drivers in Dudley, Newcastle, Poole and Exeter have the most car parks to choose from.