Traffic lights may alter...

The timing of traffic lights may be altered to clear bottlenecks around the congestion charging zone, it emerged last night.

The news came as the scheme faced its first real test today, as traffic levels returned to normal after the school half-term.

Transport for London, which runs the scheme, admitted it may temporarily alter lights to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.

Last week the organisation dismissed accusations by motoring groups and opposition MPs that it had rephased traffic lights to make the charge appear successful as 'absolute nonsense'.

A TfL spokesman said yesterday: 'If there are bottlenecks we may make minor alterations, such as temporarily altering the traffic lights, to make sure that traffic is not being fed into the same areas.' She stressed it was different to rephasing traffic lights, where timings are adjusted on a long-term basis.

TfL said it did not expect any problems as traffic levels during half-term normally fell by just five per cent. But the AA put it much higher, at 20 per cent.

The Commission for Integrated Transport, which produced the radical plan, believes it could cut congestion by half. Tony Blair has hinted he may look to introduce it.