One of Britain’s worst congested roads outside London is in Bradford city centre, a survey has revealed.

The study says morning rush-hour drivers along Godwin Street move at an average of 17.75 miles an hour between 8am and 9am, making it ninth out of the worst ten roads in terms of traffic speeds.

While the worst of the snails’ pace journeys are in London, other nightmare spots for car drivers included Skipton Road in Harrogate, where 1.5mph is the average.

RAM Tracking managing director Chris McClellan, whose company came up with the findings to help motorists know exactly where they should steer clear of, said: “Our research revealed what a phenomenal amount of time many business drivers waste when travelling during the breakfast rush-hour.”

RAM’s data covered more than 440,000 individual journeys in February this year, comparing distance travelled during the rush-hour commute of 8am to 9am with the later time of 11am to noon.

The survey found that by mid-morning the average speed goes up to 24.9mph – an increase of 41 per cent.

Godwin Street runs from the junction of Prince’s Way and Thornton Road past the empty TJ Hughes department building though a series of traffic lights, then towards Greenwood’s Menswear and round the back of the Kirkgate Centre.

Traders there say rush-hour never seems to end with a continual stream of traffic passing their businesses throughout the day.

Pauline Bean, manageress of Earnshaws shoe shop, said constant traffic was a problem, and said many drivers go too fast when the jams end.

She said: “Rush hour never ends – it goes right on throughout the day.

“Cars just fly down here like idiots. They need to do something to slow them down. I don’t think just under 18mph is that slow at all for that time of day.”

Council principal engineer Darren Badrock said: “Godwin Street is only 250 metres long, and an average speed of 17.6mph in such a location is not unexpected, particularly at peak times."