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Many members of the public are in favour of road pricing, an Ipsos Mori poll released last week suggests. Some 61% of respondents said they would support road pricing if the money raised was reinvested in public transport. However, although the survey did not specifically question respondents  about their attitudes to trucks, 81% of the 2,000 people surveyed chose either emissions levels or engine size as the charging criterion. Support for the scheme fell slightly if the revenue was passed back to the motorist as lower fuel duty (49% in favour) or road tax (53%).

One third of respondents supported the idea of road pricing regardless of the form the scheme took. The poll follows suggestions that the government is preparing to shy away from road pricing, perhaps because the 1.8 million who signed the Downing Street petition against road tolls have made ministers believe this is an example of what former prime minister Tony Blair called "kamikaze politics".

Geoff Dossetter, external communication director at the Freight Transport Association (FTA), says: "I'm sure the government will be heartened by a suggestion of more support. We have always supported road pricing in that it could separate  fuel duty between cars and trucks. But we cannot wait 10-15 years for this to happen. The situation is urgent." The FTA has renewed its calls for an essential user rebate since the fuel duty increase at the beginning of October.