The early introduction of road tolls is necessary to counter a rapid increase in road traffic over the next 10 years, a study has found.

Traffic will grow by a fifth by 2010 according to the study by the Independent Transport Commission, an influential think tank.

However, the commission found that the average traffic increase in England could be limited to four per cent by 2010 if fuel duty was scrapped and replaced with a charge for road use based on the congestion and pollution caused by each journey.