Business leaders will today call for a massive increase in spending on transport after new research showed that delays and other problems were hitting productivity and causing stress among workers.

The CBI wants the Government to commit an extra £1 billion over the next two years on road and rail projects.

The call comes on the day the Government will announce which region will pilot a road user pricing scheme.

The West Midlands is considered the favourite for landing the pilot, which will eventually unlock up to £2.5 billion funding for public transport improvements in the region.

The business group said total spending by private firms and the Government should be lifted by £60 billion over the next ten years to £300 billion.

Director general Sir Digby Jones also called for the UK's "decrepit" planning regime to be reformed.

A survey of 1,000 firms and individual workers for the CBI, ahead of its annual conference in London today, showed "widespread dissatisfaction" with the nation ' s infrastructure.

Half of those polled believed the UK's reputation as a place to do business was being significantly harmed by transport problems.

Two thirds of firms expected the transport system to get worse in the next five years, and half said transport problems were having a substantial impact on their profits.

Two out of five said staff were often late for work and arrived stressed because of delays.

Most of the firms questioned had introduced more flexible working to try to overcome transport problems.

Sir Digby said: "Although transport spending has risen in recent years, there are decades of under-investment to deal with and it is clear that business still finds it far too difficult to get its goods to market and its people to work.

"The Government must ensure more is done now to improve the transport network if its business-friendly credentials are to have any credibility.

"The Government must not bury its head in the sand. We have to do something about it, and quickly."

The study showed that firms blamed transport delays for lost productivity, increased costs and diminished customer service.

The bid by the region's seven metropolitan borough councils has received unprecedented political support although Sandwell Council leader Bill Thomas sounded one note of caution about the scheme.

He said: "We don't have a good track record of getting the money through the door.

"Year on year there is a concern about the inability to bring schemes forward to spend the money we get."

Leader of Birmingham's Labour Group Sir Albert Bore also welcomed the bid.

"We have to get our skates on," he said. "Congestion in the West Midlands is not reducing, if anything it is getting worse."