More traffic misery for commuters

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Hapless motorists look away now - congestion on the nation's roads has climbed by an average of 11 per cent since last October.

Trafficmaster says a combination of roadworks, closures and accidents caused jams on some motorways to climb by as much as 50 per cent - the western sector of the M25 being particularly badly hit.

Better results were recorded on the southern section of the M1, where congestion fell by 19 per cent, and on the M62 and M621 in West Yorkshire - down 18 per cent.

"The period we are comparing this with, of October 2008, was at the height of the recession with the biggest recorded drops in congestion we saw that year," said Georgina Read of Trafficmaster.

"So to see an increase is good news but it still doesn't put us anywhere near pre-recession levels.

"Overall, our conclusions are that there is an upward trend in congestion levels but this is prevalent on Mondays and Fridays so there is an element of leisure traffic in this, particularly with the unseasonably warm, dry Autumn weather."

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