Pay-as-you-drive charges coming

Progress towards a nationwide system of pay-as-you-drive road charging is underway in earnest.

According to The Times newspaper, transport secretary Douglas Alexander has asked the Highways Agency to scout for a suitable section of the motorway network for a charging trail to be run.

The M25 is thought to be top of the list of candidates as continued increase in traffic puts pressure on the route.

It is unclear, however, whether the charges would apply to the whole of the motorway, or only specific lanes.

After all, when the Department for Transport this spring announced that new lanes being built on the M1 would be for cars carrying at least two people, it also floated the idea of single 'hot lanes' on the M6 which motorists would have to pay to use.

Either way, the pilot projects would be the first tolls on routes besides those introduced in urban areas and on the privately run M6 toll road.

Delivering the rather miserable news that the DfT never expects traffic to ever flow freely during peak hours, then transport secretary Alistair Darling said in February that he expected the first road pricing pilot projects to be up and running within four to five years.

The Government has said that a nationwide system of charging is inevitable and could be in place by 2015.