THE Government has pledged that it has no intention of imposing road tolls, following a controversial report that suggested cars should pay to use roads on a mile-by-mile basis.

The future-gazing Commission for Integrated Transport indicated that vehicles could be fitted with satellite tracking devices so that the Government could levy charges according to actual road use.

However, Stephen Byers, secretary of state at the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, said: 'The Government has no intention of introducing road-user charging for cars.'

Local authorities can, however, levy congestion charges on roads that they control, and the Government wants to see 20 schemes in operation by the end of its 10-year transport plan in 2008.

Some 35 authorities are currently considering congestion charging or workplace parking charging schemes.