Report lends support to night-time deliveries

Retail guru Mary Portas’ recommendation that night-time delivery restrictions could be lifted as one way to reinvigorate the UK’s ailing High Streets has been backed by the Freight Transport Association.

“Our high streets rely on vans and trucks to stay open for business, but the Portas Review shows that excessive delivery restrictions have held back business growth,” said Gordon Telling, the FTA’s Head of Urban Policy. “By allowing vehicle operators to deliver out-of-hours we will see improvements in congestion and air quality, less wasted fuel and more reliability built into our supply chains.”

Recent Quiet Delivery Demonstration Scheme trials, undertaken by the FTA, Transport for London and the Noise Abatement Society across six retail parks in England, concluded that by following best practice advice, night-time deliveries provide cost-saving and congestion-reducing benefits without disturbing local residents.

The FTA and NAS are now building on the QDDS by expanding the existing Scheme’s best practice guidance into a toolkit that includes standards for quiet night-time deliveries.

“Lifting night-time deliveries could provide meaningful ‘retail therapy’ for our ailing high streets,” Gordon Telling said. “By adopting the best practice guidance we have helped to develop, the commercial vehicle operators that shops and business around the country rely on can help Britain’s High Streets flourish.”