Telford is Britain's car friendliest town

Telford has been crowned the UK's most car-friendly place, new research from Virgin Money Car Insurance shows. The self-proclaimed birthplace of industry in the West Midlands has overtaken last year's winner Dundee and seen off stiff competition from car friendly hotspots including Newcastle, Blackpool and Sunderland.

The Virgin Money Car Insurance researchers rated the UK's 50 largest populated towns and cities on a range of criteria including petrol prices; the cost of parking for two hours and the number of speed cameras on main roads into the town or city. It also took into consideration the number of car parks and the level of car crime, weighted to reflect the population numbers.

According to the Virgin Money researchers, Telford offers motorists the best all-round driving experience, scoring highly on all five measures and topping the list of cities and towns for the generous number of car parks it offers.

Motorists are likely to be driven to despair by a trip to Northampton as they're left crippled by the expensive petrol prices, high levels of vehicle crime and an inadequate amount of parking spaces to support population numbers. Completing the bottom five were Cardiff, London, Birmingham and Liverpool - all scoring poorly on most measures.

Scott Mowbray of Virgin Money said: "The UK's 33 million motorists face many frustrations. The number of speeding tickets issued to motorists has almost trebled in the last ten years and petrol prices continue to soar. It's easy to see why for many, motoring has evolved from a pleasure to an exercise in survival on the roads. Although no town or city is perfect, thankfully there are still some pockets of the country that are still suitable for a Sunday drive."

Those with a penchant for speed are advised to avoid Reading as motorists are forced to dodge more speed cameras than in any other town or city outside of London. In contrast motorists in Hull do not have to contend with any.

The most expensive place to park outside the Capital is Bristol where a two-hour stay in a car park costs on average £5. However it does well for petrol prices when compared to Northampton which is the most expensive at an average of 111.90p per litre.

The car crime capital of the UK is Manchester with an average 8.9 events of car crimes per 1000 people. Swindon ranks as the safest place for motorists with just 2.2 occurrences of car crime every year per 1000 people.