Christmas shopping by car? Avoid these shopping centers...

(Adisa)

Westfield Shopping Centre in London is predicted to be Europe's most traffic-congested in the run-up to Christmas, satellite navigation service TomTom said December 2.

The GPS device manufacture analysed historical traffic data from shopping centers around the continent using its TomTom HD service and calculated that Westfield is likely to be the most congested on the first Saturday of the month (December 4 this year) with four malls in Belgium holding the rest of the top five places.

The W Shopping, City 2, Westland Shopping Center in Brussels and Wijnegem Shopping Center in Antwerp were hotspots for traffic snarl-ups last year, said TomTom.

The data also suggested that shopping centres in four out of the five countries analysed will be busiest on the first Saturday of the month, with France the only exception - traffic conditions around French shopping centres such as CAP 3000, and Part DIEU will be busiest on the 18th December, the final Saturday before Christmas.

Christmas shopping traffic hotspots

Shopping Centre (Country) - Most congested Saturday in December (2009)

1. Westfield London (United Kingdom) - 5th December
2. The W Shopping (Belgium) - 12th December
3. City 2 (Belgium) - 19th December
4. Westland SC (Belgium) - 12th December
5. Wijnegem SC (Belgium) - 5th December
6. Creteil Soleil (France) - 12th December
7. Belle Epine (France) - 12th December
8. Limbecker Platz, Essen (Germany) - 5th December
9. Part DIEU (France) - 19th December
10. Metrocentre (United Kingdom) - 19th December
11. Gropius Passagen, Berlin (Germany) - 5th December
12. Thecentre:mk (United Kingdom) - 19th December
13. Winkelcentrum Leidsenhage (The Netherlands) - 12th December
14. St-Laurent du Var, CAP 3000 (France) - 19th December
15. Stadshart, Zoetermeer (The Netherlands) - 12th December
16. Waasland sc (Belgium) - 5th December
17. Stadshart, Amstelveen (The Netherlands) - 5th December
18. Bluewater (United Kingdom) - 5th December
19. Ruhrpark, Bochum (Germany) - 19th December
20. Alexandrium, Rotterdam (The Netherlands) - 5th December
21. Zuidplein, Rotterdam (The Netherlands) - 5th December
22. Liverpool One (United Kingdom) - 12th December
23. Nova Eventis, Gunthersdorf (Germany) - 19th December
24. Paunsdorf Center, Leipzig (Germany) - 5th December
25. Marseille Grand Littoral (France) - 12th December

Data provided by TomTom HD - http://routes.tomtom.com