ONE of the areas with the worst broadband speeds in the UK has been revealed to be in North Yorkshire.

The Ryedale area is in the bottom five in the country, according to consumer organisation Which?

It found the Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and Highland local authorities all averaged the lowest speeds, with Ryedale in Yorkshire and Purbeck making up the bottom five.

The fastest area was Tamworth, followed by Reading, Adur in West Sussex, Enfield and Dundee City.

The minimum download speed proposed under the Government's Universal Service Obligation is 10Mbps, but the study found the average test in 12 local authority areas didn't reach that speed.

Despite the majority of slow download speeds coming from rural areas, many local authority areas in big cities are getting below the national average.

The London boroughs of Southwark, Westminster, Lambeth, Hackney and the City of London were all found to be lagging behind the average, which was 17Mbps.

Alex Neill of Which? said: "Far too many households across the UK are suffering from slow speeds, which can stop you being able to carry out essential daily tasks.

"We are encouraging everyone with broadband to use our speed checker so people can see if they are getting the speeds that they've been promised."