Those stuck on the Tube never doubted it – Londoners take far longer than anyone else in the UK to get to work.

While 75 per cent of UK workers take 30 minutes or less to reach workplaces, as many as 56 per cent of Londoners take more than half an hour, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Only nine per cent of workers outside London take more than 45 minutes on their daily commute but the figure for Londoners is 36 per cent.

Based on figures for the last three months of 2009, the statistics showed that 59 per cent of all workers in the UK worked and lived in the same local authority district.

Most - 71 per cent - drove a car to work but this figure dropped to 35 per cent for those working in London.

A total of 20 per cent of London-based workers took the train, 18 per cent travelled by Underground and 12 per cent went by bus. This compared with only nine per cent of workers in the rest of the UK taking any form of public transport to work.

The figures also showed that, regardless of the length of travel-to-work time, those who worked in London tended to earn more than those who work in the rest of the UK.

However, for workers in both London and the rest of the UK, those with long commutes to work (more than 60 minutes) tended to earn more than those who had short commutes (15 minutes or less).

Also, working full-time rather than part-time, and working in a high-skill (manager and professionals) rather than low-skill (elementary) occupation, were associated with long commutes to work.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The link between long commute times and high earnings suggests that transport costs are a huge barrier to people looking for work outside their local area.

“Politicians with free travel passes often fail to understand that it is impossible for people to afford long and expensive commutes for low-paid jobs.”