Byers men 'hid' bad motoring news

Officials from Stephen Byers's transport department slipped out plans for nationwide congestion charging on the day of the Queen Mother's funeral.

They published outline proposals that could lead to millions of motorists paying tolls on all major motorways as well as in town centres across the country. There is also a suggestion for congestion charging across all of London, not just the Mayor's central zone.

By releasing the highly sensitive information on the day of the funeral - on the Department of Transport's official website - they were accused of trying to avoid an ugly backlash.

The revelation follows attempts by Jo Moore - who worked for Mr Byers - to "bury" bad news on the day of the terrorist attacks on 11 September.

The recommendations were attacked by motoring organisations and the Conservatives as new "stealth taxes" which would infuriate motorists already bracing themselves for further petrol price rises.

Today, Mr Byers's department dismissed the reports as "work in progress" and rejected claims that the government would extend congestion charging to all motorways as " nonsense". But they could not explain why the plans, by a group set up by their own department, were posted on their official website.

The report was not accompanied by the usual press release and went unheralded by the department on the day when attention was focused on the funeral. The recommendations include applying "urban congestion charging" over the whole of London "and the urban areas outside the M25".

The papers - that have already gone to ministers - recommend new "ramp metering" or charge tolls to enter the M25 in a new bid to control traffic levels on the highly congested orbital motorway.

This is in spite of an admission by the report that the "current public transport system is a very inconvenient means of making the commuting journeys currently made by car on the M25".

The study also raises the spectre of "high occupancy vehicle lanes" that would allow cars with one or more passengers to bypass the new charges, which should be set to "reflect congestion costs". On some roads they could be as high as 20p a kilometre.

The reports are seen by the government as an essential plank of its 10-year Transport Plan unveiled in 2000. Ministers have been waiting for the "Multi Modal Studies" to reinforce the plan. Theresa May, shadow secretary of state for transport, said: "We already knew that new toll or parking taxes are being introduced in London, Nottingham, Durham, Derbyshire and Bristol. Now stealth plans are being drawn up to extend toll taxes right across England's motorways.

"Motorists are already paying exorbitant tax on fuel. At a time when petrol prices are soaring, it is a slap in the face of drivers."

Other conclusions in the studies published yesterday include tolling the M6 in the West Midlands and the hugely congested M1 in the East Midlands.

The report also recommends 'urban area charging' of 20 pence a kilometre backed by motorway charging at 2 pence a kilometre in West Yorkshire, to slash traffic-levels on roads such as the A1. This would yield: "very large revenues in fact so large - £2.4 billion pa - that they may be regarded as a significant tax burden," says the report.

Further proposals for the West Midlands include congestion charging schemes that would 'be introduced based on cordons around the major centres in the conurbation, possibly starting with Birmingham City Centre'"

It concludes: "In the medium to long term the introduction of full electronic road pricing is recommended and this would need to be delivered at regional if not national level."

Rebecca Rees of the AA said: "We strongly oppose these stealth taxes. Motorists already pay £36 billion a year in taxes and get little in return. On top of congestion planned for central London this would be a step too far."

A Department of Transport spokesman for said: "There are no plans to introduce road user charging on any roads in the UK."

He said the papers on road user charging - which he acknowledged were put on the Department's website yesterday - were simply 'technical documents'.

They had been produced for an internal seminar in February, reviewing the work on charging options carried out by each study. "This is largely work in progress," he added. He said that the views expressed in the papers on road user charging were those of the consultants alone - and did not necessarily reflect the views of G overnment.

Asked why the report was issued on the day of the funeral, he added: "Many Departmental documents are published only on our website and this particular report appears in the 'what's new' section and the relevant subject section."