WEST Midlands Euro MP Philip Bradbourn has welcomed the admission by traffic experts this week that congestion charging in Birmingham would cause traffic chaos.

Jeremy Evans, who heads the Transport for London congestion charging project, has said that £100m has been earmarked to cope with the impact on roads outside the central zone.

"This concern for the London project has proved that any attempt to introduce charging in Birmingham and other cities in the West Midlands would cause complete chaos across Birmingham and the Black Country," said Mr Bradbourn.

"Its good to hear those in charge of the project finally agree with us. We have said from the word go that this would cause chaos. People will not pay extortionate prices to enter the city, they will just avoid it along side roads and back routes."

Mr Bradbourn said revenue predictions for the scheme had been inflated.

"We are continually told that this project will raise significant revenue but it is estimated that 40 per cent would be spent on collecting the fees alone.

"That's before we have to fork out for damaged back routes that would see three or four times the traffic at present. This project could end up costing the taxpayer even more. Hopefully this concession is the first sign that sense is beginning to set in with our road planners."