Road pricing in the United Kingdom

The various local and any national road pricing schemes were promoted by the 1997–2010 Labour government which were then abandoned following strong public opposition.

The Durham scheme uses an automated toll booth,[7] while London uses a remote system based on CCTV and automatic number plate recognition.

[14] The HGV Road User Levy Bill,[15] legislation to introduce a time based charging scheme, was brought into Parliament in October 2012, and subsequently passed, receiving Royal Assent in February 2013.

[19] A 2012 study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) funded by the RAC Foundation found that the government's drive to promote green vehicles with a lower carbon footprint could result in a significant loss of revenue from motoring taxes, estimated at £13 billion by 2029 at current prices, according to forecasts by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Among the options available to the government to offset the loss, a further increase of the duty on petrol and diesel or the introduction of new taxes on alternative energy sources such as electricity for vehicles were considered.

However, due to lack of popularity of the former and the risks of hindering the entire green vehicle strategy, the IFS study recommended to introduce a nationwide system of road pricing to charge drivers by each mile driven, with higher pricing in congested areas at peak times, while reducing the existing motoring taxes.

The bill directly gives both local authorities and the Welsh Government powers to introduce charging schemes on different roads across Wales.

[24] Primary legislation, titled 'The Heavy Goods Vehicles (Charging for the Use of Certain Infrastructure on the Trans-European Road Network was however enacted in 2009'[27] in response to an EU Directive.

[28] Unlike in London, where Ken Livingstone had sufficient devolved powers to introduce the charge on his own authority, other cities would require the confirmation of the Secretary of State for Transport.

[32][33] The government has proposed a nationwide scheme of road tolls, but public opposition has been fierce and included a petition of nearly 2 million signatories on the 10 Downing Street website.

[42] In October 2005 the UK government suggested they explore "piggy-backing" road pricing on private sector technologies, such as usage based insurance (also known as pay-as-you-drive, or PAYD).

[specify] This method would avoid a large-scale public sector procurement exercise, but such products are unlikely to penetrate the mass market.

If introduced, this scheme would likely see a charge being levied per mile depending on the time of day, the road being driven along, and perhaps the type of vehicle.

The carbon emission consequence of moving from fuel duty to a charge per mile has been raised as a concern by some environmentalists, as has any diversionary response from heavily trafficked (and hence more expensive) roads.

[43] In June 2005, Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced the current proposals to introduce road pricing.