Northern cities hit by increase in traffic jams due to rail strikes

Drivers suffered severe traffic jams in northern cities on Wednesday due to the latest rail strikes.

Figures from location technology firm TomTom suggest the North was England’s worst-affected region for road congestion.

It was badly hit by the strikes as operator Northern suspended all services.

Manchester saw its congestion level hit 116% at 9am, up from 80% at the same time last week.

The level for Sheffield was 74% (up from 58%), while Liverpool’s figure was 75% (up from 60%).

Traffic elsewhere in Britain did not appeared to be particularly increased by the strikes.

In London, the congestion level rose from 76% to 79%.

But the level fell in Birmingham (from 70% to 69%), Bristol (from 78% to 69%) and Glasgow (from 65% to 53%).

This could be due to more people working from home.

The figures represent the proportion of additional time required for journeys compared with free-flow conditions.