One out of every five drivers in the UK regularly experiences congestion

The system is "at breaking point", says the survey by one of Britain's biggest business consortiums, the Confederation of British Industry.

And standards of transport well below those in the rest of Europe are making business leaders invest elsewhere.

The report compared costs, congestion levels, safety and reliability.

The cost of transporting freight by road in Britain is far higher than elsewhere in Europe and twice as much as in the Netherlands.

And the Netherlands is the only place in Europe where the railways are rated less reliable.

The UK's reliability rating, 83%, compares less favourably with that of France and Germany, 91%, and the United States, 93%.

Congestion woe

Transport in the US, France and Germany is also cheaper and running on better infrastructure.

Despite doubling its motorway network during the past 30 years, the UK has Europe's busiest roads.

Transport has been a thorn in the side of the UK economy for too long CBI deputy director-general John Cridland

France increased its roads by 400% during the same period.

And one out of every five drivers in the UK regularly experience congestion compared with 7% in France and 4% in Germany.

UK ports could run out of capacity in between three and five years time unless decisions to expand were taken immediately, the report, Is Transport Holding the UK Back?, says.

And Heathrow is the only major European airport to have cut the number of destinations it serves during the past 10 years.

But fewer people are killed on UK roads than on those in US, France, Germany, Italy or the Netherlands, the report says.

And nowhere in Europe has fewer rail accidents.

Nevertheless CBI deputy director-general John Cridland said international companies would stop investing in the UK altogether unless the government invested wisely to deliver "real improvements on budget and on time".

"The legacy of under-investment in transport by successive governments is well known.

"Transport has been a thorn in the side of the UK economy for too long.

High-speed network

Progress "expanding capacity and encouraging more efficient use of our infrastructure" had been "painfully slow", Mr Cridland added.

Sustained investment year on year is the only way we will make up for decades of underfunding Department for Transport

"Meanwhile, our competitors are pressing home their advantage.

"France is leading the way with its high-speed TGV rail network.

"While the UK faces a 4,000-mile rail-replacement backlog."

Sustained investment

A spokeswoman for the Department for Transport said the government would spend �13.2bn on transport this year with another �5.9bn coming from the private sector.

"A modern and efficient transport network is essential for a healthy economy, which is why we have allocated over �180bn investment to improve transport by 2010."

There were no alternatives or quick fixes, the spokeswoman added.

"Sustained investment year on year is the only way we will make up for decades of underfunding and bring about lasting improvements for travellers and businesses alike."

Unprecedented investment

The spokeswoman said 14 trunk road schemes had been completed since January 2002 with 50 more due to be finished during the next five years.

"In the last year we have announced improvements to expand capacity on some of our busiest roads and provided unprecedented investment in our rail networks.

"We will be publishing a White Paper on future airport capacity - the first for nearly 30 years - in December."

The spokeswoman also highlighted the opening of the first phase of the new Channel Tunnel Rail Link, a �9bn upgrade of the West Coast Main Line, the replacement of 40% of rolling stock during the next five years and �16bn to be spent on modernising the London Underground.