Motorway tolls by 1998
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by Nicky Clarke • Hauliers will pay motorway tolls within five years, raising an extra £200m a year for the Treasury, Transport Secretary John MacGregor announced last week. Prices will rise during peak times in a bid to reduce congestion.
"It would put the charges on those who actually use motorways rather than the near 50% of road users who rarely or never travel on the network," said MacGregor last week, replying to a parliamentary question on tolling. Motorways carry around 30% of all LGV traffic. He pledged that all revenue raised from tolls would be spent on improving the roads network (hypothecation), but again ruled it out for vehicle excise and fuel duties.
Tolling will be carried out electronically from the outset: the proposed interim measure of a permit system was overwhelmingly rejected by the industry, said MacGregor.
The Department of Transport is undertaking a major programme of research. develop ment and trials to test available technology. Hauliers and motorists will have an electronic tag or smart card inside the vehicle which would be read by an overhead gantry at the start of the motorway journey.
The toll will either be automatically deducted from a bank account or drivers will be billed monthly.
MacGregor is still undecided about which motorways will be tolled. The level of toll—about 4.5p a mile for LGVs—will be less than those on the Continent because the Government is concerned about diversion of traffic on to other roads.
But MacGregor repeated that "the relationship between the toll and existing motoring taxes would be taken into account in setting their respective levels".