The worst roads in Britain to break down on

New research has revealed the absolute worst places in Britain to suffer a car breakdown.

A fault that stops you in your tracks is an inconvenience at the best of times but suffering a car failure in the wrong place can turn a minor problem into a major nightmare, potentially leaving drivers stranded for hours as they await rescue or recovery.

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Now, analysis of data including phone reception, traffic levels, geographical remoteness and even the weather, has revealed the worst places to break down, with a tiny road in the south of Scotland the unfortunate holder of the title.

The B725, near the hamlet of Middlebie in Dumfries and Galloway has been named the very worst, due to its inconvenient mixture of poor weather and remote location. The road is almost 10 miles from a petrol station, 34 miles from a phone antenna and more than 20 miles from the nearest taxi company, while being subject to low temperatures and 105cm of rainfall a year.

The B725 is picturesque in the sun but with regular rain and little in the way of services for miles around it's a bad place to break down (Photo: Google Maps)

The A489/A483 near Caersws, Wales was the next least desirable spot to break down thanks to similar issues, with the rest of the top 10 dominated by locations in Scotland and Cumbria.

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Other spots where you could find yourself in for a long wait include the A702 near Elvenfoot in South Lanarkshire or B6364 close to Stichill in the Scottish Borders, the A6 near the village of Shap high in the hills of Cumbria and the A595 near Netherton on the Cumbrian coast.

The Top 10 worst places to break down in Great Britain

B725, near the hamlet of Middlebie, Dumfries & GallowayA489/A483, around three kilometres from Caersws, Wales.A702, around three kilometres from, Elvanfoot, South LanarkshireB6364, close to Stichill, Scottish BordersA6, around the village of Shap, CumbriaB6400, close to Nisbet, Scottish BoardersM74, and the A74(M), near Elvanfoot, South LanarkshireB740, near Crawfordjohn, South LanarkshireA596, heading out of Netherton, CumbriaA698, south of Bonjedwad, Scottish Borders

The research conduct by Scrap Car Comparison looked at more than six million map points around the UK and used data on the amount of rainfall; temperature; distance from a petrol station; distance from a taxi company; phone signal (measured by distance from an antenna) and traffic on the road, with more traffic posing more danger and thus being worse. Each of the road points were ranked against these factors to create the ranking.

While the list of worst locations was dominated by rural Scotland, the research also identified trouble spots for every region around Britain. In Yorkshire the A59 between junction 4 on the A1(M) and Cattal village, the B1259 near Flamborough and the A18, south east of Thorne were highlighted while the A683 near Denny Beck in Lancashire and the A68 just south of the English/Scottish border in Northumberland and on the outskirts of Darlington, were among other danger spots.

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Dan Gick, managing director at Scrap Car Comparison commented: “Breaking down is one of the worst things about owning a car, but we all know certain roads are more favourable than others, so we wanted to find the stretches drivers should maybe try to avoid, especially if their car is reaching the more ‘unreliable’ leg of its life.

"Data science was the only way to achieve this, and it was really interesting to see millions of data points coming together to pinpoint the roads that are most inconvenient, or even outright dangerous when experiencing a fault with your car. With the cold and dark winter months upon us, we hope the findings will help drivers avoid any unfortunate scenarios, and stick to roads that are a bit kinder to breakdowns.”

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