According to a national newspaper, Ministers are to perform a U-turn by shelving plans for a national road pricing scheme that would have cost motorists up to £1.30 a mile.
The Government has bowed to the groundswell of opposition which saw 1.8 million people back a Downing Street petition for the deeply unpopular proposals to be ditched.
The possibility of tracking every motorist's movements by satellite alarmed many.
The retreat will be signalled by the Department for Transport this week in response to a back bench committee's report into the draft Local Transport Bill.
The Bill was seen as a staging post for a comprehensive scheme that would affect every driver.
MPs will be told: "It is not the department's intention, at this stage, to take the separate powers needed to price the national road network."
The department will add: "We agree that there are congestion problems on parts of the strategic road network, but 88 per cent of congestion is in urban areas. Therefore it is sensible to prioritise the assessment of road pricing in these areas."
Despite the report, the DfT said today it would still pursue road pricing.
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