£1.34-a-mile for drivers

The country would be divided into a series of road pricing zones with driving in rural areas costing the least and driving into or through the most congested urban areas the most.

A feasibility study carried out by the Department for Transport suggests four different zones which would attract variable pricing rates for people to use roads.

The proposed rates would be:

* 2p per mile in rural areas.

* 4p to 9p per mile in outer suburbs.

* 14p to 86p per mile in the inner suburbs.

* up to £1.34 per mile in town and city centres.

Transport minister Stephen Ladyman said a zonal system would meet the concerns of motorists who object to the tracking of their movements by a satellite positioning device placed in their cars.

"It would solve our privacy problem because we wouldn't need to know you were in Acacia Avenue at 12.30.

"All we would need to know is which zone you were in and whether you crossed a border into another zone," he said.

Roadside cameras would be used to discover whether a car is entering or leaving a particular zone, and a device inside the car would show how many miles had been clocked up.

Mr Ladyman said a zonal system would deter motorists from trying to avoid charging by moving off a main route and driving through a rural village or quieter suburban roads because drivers would still be in the same zone.

An anti-road pricing petition on the Downing Street website had attracted 1.8 million names by the time it closed, and many motorists have opposed plans for a satellite-based system as an invasion of privacy.

The Government will not come to a decision on road pricing until it has assessed the results of pilot schemes being researched in specified areas including the Black Country and Birmingham.

Mr Ladyman said the Government was considering reducing fuel duty and road tax to compensate for road pricing, which he anticipated would not be introduced before 2015.