Germany's Ministry of Transport has predicted that its highly controversial road charging scheme LKW Maut, could be used as template for road charging across Europe.

Edith Buss of the Federal Ministry of Transport in Germany, claims its new Toll Collect system will be the future across Europe when toll roads are fully implemented. The system has what it takes to manage traffic and raise revenue without the need to build more roads.

The German Ministry of Transport says it views road pricing as "an inevitable tool" for road management and the easing of pollution in countries around Europe.

Since 2005, Toll Collect has been operating a charge system on behalf of the German Transport Ministry for trucks weighing 12 tonnes or more on what is the largest motorway network in Europe.

Ms Buss added: "By applying the user-pays principle, the money helps us to improve our transport infrastructure making it more efficient and helps to protect the environment. Users don't have to slow down to pay and traffic is free-flowing."

The German scheme's introduction resulted in increased costs to the haulage industry of up to 8per cent. Although there were letters of protest at the start of the scheme, 322,000 German trucks and 180,000 vehicles registered outside Germany are now equipped with on-board units.