The UK’s most stressful cities for driving have been revealed, with Leeds topping the list outside of the capital.
Motoring experts at the UK’s biggest car lease deal comparison site LeaseLoco.com have created the 2025 Most Stressful Driving City Index, analysing data from the ten biggest cities in the UK.
The index ranks cities based on factors that can cause stress for drivers, such as congestion level, number of road collisions, traffic volume, parking availability and driving test pass rates.
It’s no surprise that London ranked as the most stressful city to drive in, with its heavy traffic volume and severe congestion, taking drivers over 33 minutes on average to travel just six miles.
Given London’s long-established reputation for stressful driving, the real insight comes from looking beyond the M25, where Leeds stands out as the most stressful city for drivers.
In second place was Leeds, which scored the highest for congestion levels with over four billion vehicle miles travelled per year and almost six hundred road collisions reported monthly.
The index also looked at parking availability by analysing parking data from the UK’s No. 1 car park operator NCP, and with only five NCP car parks in a major city like Leeds, it suggests drivers may struggle with finding secure, central parking.
Following Leeds is Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland. Besides having a high traffic volume with over two billion vehicle miles travelled in the city per year, Glasgow stood out with the lowest driving test pass rates.
The average pass rate in Glasgow is just 41.8% across the test centres in the city, suggesting the local roads and traffic conditions can be challenging for new drivers.
The fourth most stressful driving city is also in Scotland. Edinburgh had the lowest number of monthly road collisions on average, however, drivers in the city can expect to spend a lot of time stuck in traffic, as it takes over 27 minutes to travel six miles on average.
At the other end of the ranking, Manchester was revealed to be the least stressful city to drive in compared to the other major UK cities, closely followed by Bristol.
Manchester received excellent scores in parking availability with 26 NCP car parks located in the city, alongside a low number of monthly road collisions and relatively high driving test pass rates.
Sitting in the middle of the index are Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Bradford, which present a mixed picture when it comes to driving stress.
John Wilmot, CEO and founder of car leasing deals site LeaseLoco.com commented: “Driving in some of the biggest UK cities can be stressful, so we wanted to take a look at where the pressures are most intense and why.
“We created the 2025 Most Stressful Driving City Index and analysed some of the most stress-inducing driving factors such as congestion levels, number of road collisions, traffic volume, parking availability and driving test pass rates across the ten largest cities in the UK.
“It’s no surprise that London proved to be the most stressful city overall, given its notoriously high congestion and dense traffic.
“However, looking beyond the capital, Leeds topped the list due to its heavy traffic volume, high number of monthly road collisions, and limited parking availability.
“Scotland’s two largest cities also ranked high on the stress index. Glasgow stood out with its low driving test pass rates, while drivers in Edinburgh experience stress due to heavy congestion levels.
“On the flip side, we found that Manchester ranked as the least stressful city to drive in, thanks to a combination of low road collision figures, high driving test pass rates and great parking availability.”
2025 Most Stressful Driving City Index:
| Rank | City | Congestion level (average travel time per 10 km) | Driving test pass rates (average % per city in September 2024) | Average monthly road collisions | Number of NCP car parks | Vehicle miles travelled on roads per year (billions) | Total points |
| 1 | London | 33 min 17s | 48.6 | 5223 | 19 | 19.13 | 20 |
| 2 | Leeds | 20 min 23s | 48.1 | 593 | 5 | 4.16 | 22.5 |
| 3 | Glasgow | 23 min 19s | 41.8 | 72 | 11 | 2.22 | 23 |
| 4 | Edinburgh | 27 min 24s | 44.6 | 45.5 | 6 | 1.89 | 24 |
| 5 | Bradford | 22 min 8s | 43.6 | 452 | 1 | 1.48 | 27 |
| 6 | Birmingham | 20 min 49s | 46.8 | 336 | 12 | 3.62 | 27.5 |
| 7 | Sheffield | 23 min 55s | 46.1 | 210 | 13 | 1.74 | 28 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 25 min 15s | 43.9 | 70 | 20 | 1.35 | 33 |
| 9 | Bristol | 22 min 49s | 51.6 | 111.5 | 8 | 1.42 | 36 |
| 10 | Manchester | 24 min 46s | 48.2 | 51 | 26 | 1.68 | 38 |
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Featured Photo by Anthony DELANOIX on Unsplash.
