DfT accused of burying bad news

The Department of Transport (Dft) is being accused of trying to hide poor results after it released disappointing the figures yesterday in a large batch of reports on congestion.

The figures show the government has not only failed to cut the amount of time motorists are sitting in traffic jams on motorways and A-roads, but that delays have in fact increased.

The failure is being taken particularly badly by motoring groups given that the targets – set three years ago on the UK's worst hundred roads – were originally criticised for being too weak. Experts say a drop of a single second in a journey would have qualified as a success.

Dft officials reacted angrily to the accusation.

A DfT spokesman told politics.co.uk: "It's absolute nonsense to suggest we were burying them. The figures were release by the office of national statistics in the normal way. I'm not sure what else we could have done."