Boris rules out suburban road tolls in pledge to London Assembly

BORIS Johnson has rejected the idea of bringing in road charges in the suburbs of London, in a public pledge to the London Assembly at Mayor’s Question Time yesterday

By Mike Brooke

BORIS Johnson has rejected the idea of bringing in road charges in the suburbs of London.

He made a public pledge to the London Assembly against suburban tolls at Mayor's Question Time yesterday.

Assembly member Steve O'Connell had challenged him to "rule out road user charging" after tolls had been included in recommendations by the Outer London Commission.

Boris agreed with him and added that road user charging would be "a retrograde step" that would "not be the way to go."

Steve O'Connell said later: "This will be great reassurance to anyone living in the suburbs, where the car remains the primary form of transport.

"Charging people for using the roads to the shops or go to work, on top all the charges motorists already pay, would be a catastrophic burden."

Fears about road tolls resulted from the Mayor's Transport Strategy on May 10, which said he may "consider road user charging schemes if other measures are deemed insufficient to meet the goals."

The Mayor has refused to rule out road charging on previous occasions, only saying that he was not aware of any plans to introduce it.