COV MOST DRIVER-FRIENDLY CITY, SAYS NEW RESEARCH

COVENTRY is the most driver-friendly city in the UK - according to new research.

Coventry edges out Brighton and Hove on the final leaderboard, which measures some of the key aspects that are driver-friendly - such as fuel prices, cost of parking and traffic congestion.

Cinch, an online car marketplace, sifted through the most populated 25 cities in the UK to identify those offering the most favourable driving experiences to British motorists. Maybe unsurprisingly, London finished bottom of the leaderboard, with Cardiff and Edinburgh also faring poorly.

The research covered the average cost of parking in the city centre, the average price of petrol, the number of available electric vehicle public charging points, the average number of hours lost in traffic congestion per driver and the amount of positive tweets related to driving in the city. Sam Sheehan, from cinch, said: “The aim of our research was to find the standout cities in the UK that provide optimal conditions for car drivers.

“Whether you have an Audi A1 or a BMW i8, the top-ranking cities offer an appealing combination of factors that can make drivers’ lives more comfortable and convenient as they hit the road.

“For example, Coventry, our best-scoring entry overall, has the UK’S highest number of EV public charging points in relation to its population, with an average of 318 public chargers per 100,000 people.

“At the other end of scale, Stoke-ontrent (20 chargers per 100,000 people) and Wolverhampton (21) are playing catch-up when it comes to public charging. Coventry is jointsecond with Bradford as the city with the cheapest parking-space prices within a 10-minute walk from the centre.

“For a one-hour stay between 12pm and 1pm on a Monday, you can expect to pay £1.43 on average in Coventry. If you were in Wolverhampton, the top-ranking city for this metric, it would cost you £1.29 to park your car in town.

“London, on the other hand, will set you back a whopping £9.25 per hour per hour.”