Pay-as-you-drive 'black box' cars proposed

The government is proposing to fit cars with 'black boxes' to track motorists for a national pay-per-mile road charging scheme in cities and on major trunk roads.

Transport secretary Douglas Alexander revealed details of a new road transport bill proposals in a letter to other cabinet ministers, according to a report in The Sunday Times.

Alexander wants new powers to ensure any local road-pricing initiatives are interoperable and consistent with a national framework. This would mean trunk roads as well as cities would be subject to pay-as-you-drive charges.

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The letter said: "Current legislation offers very limited powers for pricing on the trunk-road network outside of the area of a local scheme. We are considering pilots on the trunk-road network as an important stage towards national road pricing."

As part of any national scheme, cars would be fitted with black boxes that would track the mileage and roads used and automatically work out the charges for each journey, with motorists potentially facing charges of up to £1.30 per mile.

The government has already set up a £10m fund to help IT suppliers develop the technologies for a national road-use charging scheme.