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While Edinburgh is preparing for a Central London-style congestion charge, Professor David Begg, chairman of the Commission for Integrated Transport, has told Scottish monthly thecarmag that he sees one major problem for the City Council in the run-up to the referendum on the subject, due next February.

He says that the council "will not win the referendum, I think, until they address the issue of the effect it will have on the retail trade in the city centre. What the council has to do before the referendum is deal effectively with the question: Are you going to chase people out of Edinburgh, to shop out of town, and possibly lose them to Glasgow?"

This, of course, is a nightmare scenario to retailers in the capital, who would rather see their customers defect to Vladivostok than go 40 miles or so along the M8 to the rival city in the West of Scotland.

David Begg reckons that what Edinburgh City Council should be saying before the referendum is, "If the congestion charge comes in, the first hour of public car parking is going to be free." We'll see. In a survey, 73% of Edinburgh commuters quizzed were against a congestion charge of any kind being introduced.

As far as the possibility of a congestion charge in Glasgow is concerned, Professor Begg is pretty doubtful, partly because Glasgow spends heavily on public transport, the wander-about boundaries make it more difficult to introduce and control a congestion charge, and in any case a lot of the traffic hold-ups occur on the M8 which runs right through the middle of the city. As a motorway, it's a UK government responsibility, and not under the control of either the Scottish Executive or Glasgow City Council.

As far as the possibility of a congestion charge in Glasgow is concerned, Professor Begg is pretty doubtful, partly because Glasgow spends heavily on public transport, the wander-about boundaries make it more difficult to introduce and control a congestion charge, and in any case a lot of the traffic hold-ups occur on the M8 which runs right through the middle of the city.