The draft Road Transport Bill means that councils will have more freedom to bring in their own schemes in busy areas and will look at the possibilitiy of a national road toll.

Nine areas have been earmarked for road pricing trials by the end of 2009; Norfolk, the East Midlands, part of the Thames Valley, Cambridgeshire, Durham, Greater Manchester, Shrewsbury and Shropshire, Tyne and Wear, and the West Midlands.

If these trials are successful, a national scheme could be implemented with drivers possibly paying up to £1.34 a mile to drive on the busiest roads at rush hour.

Commenting, RHA Chief Executive Roger King said: Already we are facing Transport for London's Low Emission Zone which will conveniently put a question mark over the operation of legions of construction vehicles building the Olympics.

"These latest plans will surely give the green light that local authorities have been waiting for. Up and down the land ideas abound about local congestion charging. Instead of one nationally understood transport policy we are in danger of scores of different schemes. A modern economy? It strikes me more as devolved responsibilities gone mad!