BUSINESSES in Oxfordshire have called for road pricing to prevent the county's traffic grinding to a halt.

The Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce, which represents 350 companies in the county, welcomed the publication of a report last Friday which said motorists should pay to cut congestion.

The Government-commissioned report, by Sir Rod Eddington, said traffic jams could be cut by half if motorists were charged for the journeys they made.

Experts have said a satellite tracking system could be used to enforce the toll, with prices varying from 2p per mile for driving on a quiet road out of the rush hour to £1.34 for motorways at peak times.

The Government has signalled it wants a national road pricing scheme in place within ten years.

Local authorities have been given until next July to apply for a share of a £2.5bn Transport Innovation Fund to pay for pilot schemes.

Claire Prosser, from the Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce, said the introduction of road pricing in the county was becoming "increasingly inevitable".

A national survey had found 87 per cent of businesses in favour of road pricing - but only if the money raised was spent improving public transport.

Miss Prosser said: "To gain support, any proposals on road pricing must not be just an extra tax, but form part of a thought-through, strategic plan on the future of transport in the UK.

"Oxford already suffers from bottlenecks and gridlocks due to the various ongoing roadworks, especially at Headington.

"Also the park-and-ride schemes, which run very successfully, highlight the extent of traffic passing through Oxford.

"Therefore, any congestion-saving measures are welcomed in this part of the Thames Valley."

But the man in charge of transport policy in Oxfordshire has refused to consider congestion or road charging as a solution and has has said traffic congestion is going to get "much worse".

David Robertson, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for transport, said motorists had to expect congestion as a "fact of life" - and pricing people off the road was not the answer.

He said: "The real difficulty is the A34 and A40, but there doesn't seem to be an innovative thinking other than 'let's price people off the road'.

"In 1964, a journey from Edinburgh to Oxford used to take 12 hours, it now takes six, but people get extremely frustrated because it might take seven-and-a-half-hours.

"But people have got to get round to understanding there will be congestion whatever we do, that's simply a fact of life."

The Conservative councillor added: "We have dire straits in the rush hour in the morning and evenings, but if you travel after 9am and before 4pm in Oxfordshire you will not have any problems.

"The idea of having differential pricing is a non-starter - it would exclude people who could not afford to travel."