The car remains the number one choice for UK business travellers who describe public transport as “not fit for purpose”.

The majority of business travellers rely on the car, despite 86% of them complaining that road congestion detrimentally affects their business.

“The average business traveller wastes 11 days a year stuck in congestion,” said a report by the RAC and Chambers of Commerce.

Despite this, company drivers are travelling 20% further on business than 13 years ago.

The report also found that 70% of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) said public transport, in its present form, is not fit for purpose.

Yet, one in five businesses have taken steps to increase their use of public transport. Trains were considered a viable option, but improvements, especially to the whole journey experience are required.

In addition, over a half of all SMEs have opted to carry out more business over the virtual superhighway than take to nation’s congested roads.

According to the RAC, IT solutions are preferred by many employees to car-sharing and public transport as the best way to cut business miles.

It found that while 50% of SMEs use telephone conferencing, just 19% have adopted car-sharing and just 4% use car-pooling.

Elizabeth Dainton, RAC research development manager, said: “Greening a business is often thought to be at odds with providing a business benefit, but our research demonstrates that technology solutions can help SMEs realise both the environmental and business benefits of the virtual super-highway.”