A career-long commute is likely to set a worker back an average of £50,000, according to a survey.

For a Londoner working from 18 to 65, the cost of commuting could reach £66,000, the poll by investing service Nutmeg.com found.

Commuters will spend an average of 10,634 hours travelling to and from work in their lifetime – the equivalent of 443 days.

The survey found that the length, and cost, of a commute was highest for those travelling to or in London who spend more than 13,000 hours commuting in a lifetime. The daily time spent commuting to and from London is one hour 14 minutes, with travel £118 a month on average.

In contrast, the Liverpool commute is only 42 minutes and costs £72 a month on average, with Liverpudlian workers only notching up 7,532 hours of travel in a lifetime.

Of commuters surveyed, 20% did so because it was too expensive to buy or rent closer to work. While 51% of Londoners reckoned the cost of travel was too expensive, the happiest commuters appeared to be in Birmingham, with only 25% complaining about the expense.

Jams and travel costs are the most annoying things about commuting, ahead of delays and bad driving. Other bugbears are the length of the journey, overcrowded trains, music-playing travellers and people taking up too much seat room.