A main road leading through Edinburgh has been named as the most congested route in the UK outside London.

Traffic delays were up in almost two-thirds of UK cities, a new report shows, with drivers spending an average of 30 hours in congestion last year.

Analyst INRIX named the A8 in Edinburgh, leading from Princes Street to Maybury Road in the west of the city, as the most congested road outside of London.

Motorists spend an average of 43 hours sitting in delays per year on the 5.3 mile route.

The report said the road was at its worst in the afternoon and the most congested peak period is Tuesday at 5pm.

The INRIX scorecard was released just a week after Friends of the Earth Scotland named St John's Road, which is part of the A8, as Scotland's most polluted.

The A8 beat routes in Manchester and Newcastle to the dubious title.

London was named the most congested city in the world, surpassing 100 hours spent in gridlock per driver in 2015.

Of the countries measured in the scorecard, the US leads with the highest annual hours wasted in traffic – an average of nearly 50 hours in 2015 – outranking Belgium at 44 hours, Netherlands at 39 hours, Germany at 38 hours and Luxembourg at 33 hours.

Switzerland ranked the same as the UK on 30 hours, while drivers in France spent an average of 28 hours in traffic.