Transport Secretary rules out potential for road pricing

Date: 26/3/2013

The Government is not planning on introducing a national road pricing scheme that would see drivers pay to use the nation's busiest roads during rush hours, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has told the Financial Times.

According to Mr McLoughlin, such a programme would not be fair on motorists, and the Daily Telegraph reports that the Secretary also appeared to rule out the potential to privatise motorways and trunk roads before the next election.

"I'm not looking at ways of taking more money off the motorists. I think the motorist has been hit hard over time," he said.

Under the previous Government, proposals were put forward that would have seen drivers tied into a pay-as-you-drive system, but the idea was thrown out when a petition opposing the initiative attracted 1.8 million signatories.

Britain is one of the few countries in the world to have a road network that is publicly-owned and maintained, and any plans to overhaul the existing setup appear to have been shelved by the Coalition.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

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