Leeds motorway in top 5 slowest in the UK - and Yorkshire road in top 10

A Leeds motorway has been awarded the dubious honour of being one of the slowest in the UK, according to data put together by a vehicle tracking firm.

The M621, which takes vehicles in and out of Leeds, is the fourth slowest motorway in the UK, with average speeds of just 42mph, despite a speed limit of 70mph. Sound familiar?

The M1 motorway, which runs up the the M621 as well as connecting to Sheffield, is number 6 in the list, with an average speed just 1mph faster, at 43mph, despite having more lanes and smart motorway sections.

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SATRAK Vehicle Tracking compiled research on the UK's Slowest Motorways. It found that the M25 is the slowest motorway in the UK with an average speed of 25.05mph and Cambridge is the slowest city at 13.73mph.

Data was taken from over 527,000 vehicles from the 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2016.

The ten slowest motorways in Britain are as follows:

1. M25 - Average speed of 25.05 mph

2. M4 - Average speed of 30.46mph

3. M606 - Average speed of 40.68mph

4. M621, Leeds - Average speed of 42.32mph

5. M73 - Average speed of 42.71mph

6. M1, Yorkshire - Average speed of 43.90mph

7. M8 - Average speed of 44.62mph

8. M60 - Average speed of 46.05mph

9. M3 - Average speed of 46.61mph

10. M602 - Average speed of 48.33mph

Dan Walton, MD of Satrak Vehicle Tracking, said: “It’s little surprise to find that the M25 is in fact the slowest motorway. We undertake work throughout the country and usually find the M25 to be the most cumbersome, and our data provides evidence for that.

“I’ve heard of tailbacks stretching 12 miles in my time there so it’s of little surprise to me. It’s nice to see that people are taking care in many of our cities however, as these places are often busy and above all are not environments for speeding.”