THE new Secretary of State for Transport Douglas Alexander has made it clear that the UK is to have a pay-as-you-go road pricing scheme.

The issue is no longer 'if' this will happen, but more 'how and when'.

Commercial vehicles deliver the economy - everything we use or consume in our daily life is the product of a lorry journey. Sadly the growth of traffic in recent years - in fact the growth of car traffic, because lorry miles are basically falling - has increased congestion and made journey times more uncertain.

The consequence of that is wasted fuel and man hours and, crucially, wasted money - about £20 billion worth every year out of your pocket and mine.

The need to manage our traffic better, in order to reduce this awful waste, is a no-brainer. We can't all be on the same road at the same time, and introducing demand management by a road pricing scheme that spreads out traffic over the day and reduces congestion has got to make sense.

Certainly, the Government must invest more in creating a 21st century roads network for our world- class economy and that entails building more roads. But managing existing traffic is a must and road pricing will help achieve that.

Malcolm Bingham,

Freight Transport Association,

Springwood House,

Low Lane,

Horsforth,

Leeds.

Updated: 10:21 Wednesday, May 24, 2006