Ken Livingstone's £5-a-day congestion charge appears to have cleared its second major hurdle.

Traffic was flowing smoothly on Monday as the school half-term holiday drew to a close.

Some had feared that congestion would return to the capital's roads as the "school run" recommenced.

Livingstone last week hailed the system a success after traffic within the zone fell by a quarter without any significant knock-on effect on buses and tubes.

A spokesman for Transport for London said on Monday: "We are at the height of the rush hour and there have been no major problems reported at all.

"Everything appears to be coping well. Traffic is lighter in size than you would normally expect for a normal weekday Monday. Traffic is flowing well on the boundary. No problems with the buses."

However there were signs that traffic levels were on the increase in some parts of the capital.

Livingstone was also criticised last week after it emerged that scores of drivers who paid the charge had wrongly received penalty notices.